y."

When the evening arrived Mavis asked if she might come to the chapel,
but he said "No." Her presence would distract his thoughts.

"Very well, dear, I'll stay here. I shall say a prayer for you. I may
do that?"

"Yes, please do that."

Throughout the ceremony, and afterward, he was very grave and
dignified, plainly taking the whole matter with the most profound
seriousness. He was silent and solemn throughout the rest of the
evening; but he slept extraordinarily well at night. There were no
dreams, no disturbances of any kind. He lay motionless, sleeping as
peacefully as a little child.

Tender thoughts filled the mind of his wife as she watched him. She
thought of the ugly chapel, those stupid illiterate people, the dark
water, the splashing and the noise; the clumsy absurdness of the whole
rite; and yet, in spite of everything, she now felt the essential
beauty of the idea itself. It seemed to her most beautiful when
applied to this particular case--the strong brave man who in spirit
and heart has made himself simple and guileless as a child, to be
taken back to the Eternal Father of all children.

XXI

Outwardly his religion sat lightly on him, but inwardly it was solid
and real. He took to reading aloud one chapter of the Gospel every
night, and soon made a habit of adding a brief extempore prayer for
the benefit of Mary, Norah Veale, and Mrs. Goudie, who regularly came
from the kitchen to hear him. His reading and praying formed, of
course, a marked innovation; but beyond it there were very few
perceptible changes that could be traced to the fresh phase of mind
into which he had now entered. And these few changes were traced or
perceived by only one person, his wife.

Mavis saw with satisfaction that the gentlefolk did not seemed to be
huffed. Orders came in from several of those old-fashioned people who
had hitherto held aloof, but who perhaps were at present generous
enough to think that if you don't go to church, the next best thing is
to go to chapel. The Baptists were not therefore standing in his way:
they had caused no check to his success.

He bought all the corn and hay which the neighboring farms could spare
to sell, so that what others had grown and cut for miles round was
carted straight into his rick-yard. During the hay harvest he appeared
especially grand, riding about the fields on his horse, grave and
watchful, really like a prince with vassals hard at work for him as
far