ed a silver box of lozenges into which
the old bishop dipped with a trembling hand.

"Tricks of that sort," he said, "won't do, Scrope--among professionals.

"And besides," he was inspired; "true religion is old wine--as old as
the soul.

"You are a bishop in the Church of Christ on Earth," he summed it up.
"And you want to become a detached and wandering Ancient Mariner from
your shipwreck of faith with something to explain--that nobody wants to
hear. You are going out I suppose you have means?"

The old man awaited the answer to his abrupt enquiry with a handful of
lozenges.

"No," said the Bishop of Princhester, "practically--I haven't."

"My dear boy!" it was as if they were once more rector and curate.
"My dear brother! do you know what the value of an ex-bishop is in the
ordinary labour market?"

"I have never thought of that."

"Evidently. You have a wife and children?"

"Five daughters."

"And your wife married you--I remember, she married you soon after you
got that living in St. John's Wood. I suppose she took it for granted
that you were fixed in an ecclesiastical career. That was implicit in
the transaction."

"I haven't looked very much at that side of the matter yet," said the
Bishop of Princhester.

"It shouldn't be a decisive factor," said Bishop Likeman, "not decisive.
But it will weigh. It should weigh...."

The old man opened out fresh aspects of the case. His argument was for
delay, for deliberation. He went on to a wider set of considerations. A
man who has held the position of a bishop for some years is, he held, no
longer a free man in matters of opinion. He has become an official part
of a great edifice which supports the faith of multitudes of simple
and dependant believers. He has no right to indulge recklessly in
intellectual and moral integrities. He may understand, but how is the
flock to understand? He may get his own soul clear, but what will happen
to them? He will just break away their supports, astonish them, puzzle
them, distress them, deprive them of confidence, convince them of
nothing.

"Intellectual egotism may be as grave a sin," said Bishop Likeman, "as
physical selfishness.

"Assuming even that you are absolutely right," said Bishop Likeman,
"aren't you still rather in the position of a man who insists upon
Swedish exercises and a strengthening dietary on a raft?"

"I think you have made out a case for delay," said his hearer.

"Three months."

The Bisho