f is,' replied Godwin, 'that I hope before long to take
Orders.'

Again there was silence, and again the sea-breath made its whispering
in the pines. Warricombe, with a sudden gesture, pointed towards the
sky.

'A shooting star--one of the brightest I ever saw!'

'I missed it,' said Peak, just glancing in that direction.

The interruption enabled Buckland to move his chair; in this new
position he was somewhat further from Peak, and had a better view of
his face.

'I should never have imagined you a clergyman,' he said, thoughtfully,
'but I can see that your mind has been developing powers in that
direction.--Well, so be it! I can only hope you have found your true
work in life.'

'But you doubt it?'

'I can't say that I doubt it, as I can't understand you. To be sure, we
have been parted for many years. In some respects I must seem much
changed'--

'Greatly changed,' Godwin put in, promptly.

'Yes,' pursued the other, correctively, 'but not in a way that would
seem incredible to anyone whatever. I am conscious of growth in
tolerance, but my attitude in essentials is unchanged. Thinking of
you--as I have often enough done--I always kept the impression you made
on me when we were both lads; you seemed most distinctly a modern
mind--one of the most modern that ever came under my notice. Now, I
don't find it impossible to understand my father, when he reconciles
science with religion; he was born sixty years ago. But Godwin Peak as
a--a--'

'Parson,' supplied Peak, drily.

'Yes, as a parson--I shall have to meditate much before I grasp the
notion.'

'Perhaps you have dropped your philosophical studies?' said Godwin,
with a smile of courteous interest.

'I don't know. Metaphysics have no great interest for me, but I
philosophise in a way. I thought myself a student of human nature, at
all events.'

'But you haven't kept up with philosophical speculation on the points
involved in orthodox religion?'

'I confess my ignorance of everything of the kind--unless you include
Bishop Blougram among the philosophers?'

Godwin bore the gaze which accompanied this significant inquiry. For a
moment he smiled, but there followed an expression of gravity touched
with pain.

'I hadn't thought of broaching this matter,' he said, with slow
utterance, but still in a tone of perfect friendliness. 'Let us put it
aside.'

Warricombe seemed to make an effort, and his next words had the accent
of well-bred consideration