-HOW. He listened to the music and to
the Litany, the rich, full voices singing their grave, solemn pagan
appeal; but the sensuous ecstasy left Fairfax indifferent and cold.
To-day there were no visions around the altar through whose high windows
came the autumn glory staining the chancel like the Grail. His glance
wandered to the opposite side of the church where in the front pew were
the young scholars of Canon's School, a bevy of girls; and he thought
with a pang of Bella. She wouldn't be little Bella Carew much longer,
for she was nearly sixteen, charming little Bella. He thought of the
statue he had made and which had been so wantonly destroyed, and with
this came the feeling that everything he touched had been warped and
distorted. Ashamed of this point of view, he sighed and rose with the
others at the Creed. He repeated it with conviction, and at the words,
"Resurrection and the Life Everlasting," he dwelt upon "Everlasting
Life" as though he would draw from the expression such consolation as
should make him belittle the transient show with its mass of failures
and unhappy things, and render immortal only that in him which was still
aspiring, still his highest. He was glad to see instead of the curate a
man with a red hood mount the pulpit steps, and he knew it was the Canon
himself. With a new interest in his mind he sat erect.

For the first time since he had come to the North a man whom he could
revere and admire stood before him. The Canon's clear-cut heavenly face,
his gracious voice, his outstretched hand as he blessed his people, made
an agreeable impression on the young man out of his element, nearly
shipwrecked and entirely alone. It occurred to him to speak to the Canon
after service; but what should he say? What appeal could he make? He was
an engineer married to a Roman Catholic woman of the other class, too
poor a specimen of his own class to remain in it. Since his marriage he
had felt degraded in society, out of place. If the Canon had advice to
give him, it would be to shut up his studio and devote himself to his
wife.

He wandered slowly out of the building amongst the others into the
golden autumn day, and the music of the organ rolled after him like a
rich blessing. He waited to let the line of schoolgirls pass him, and
all of a sudden as he looked at them their ranks broke, he heard a cry,
an exclamation, and a call--

"_Cousin Antony!_"

Before she could be prevented she had flown to him