"Well, then, Sir Robert drew a plan of the walls of Jerusalem on the back of a letter which he took from his pocket. As he turned the letter over I could not help seeing whom it was from. I read the signature quite distinctly, "Constantine Schuabe." This brings us up to a curious fact. Two eminent men, one antichristian, the other a famous archaeologist, both express an opinion in my hearing. The first says openly that something is about to occur that will destroy faith in Christ, the other hints only at some wonderful impending discovery in the Holy Land. The connection between the two statements, startling enough in any case, becomes still more so when it is discovered that these two eminent people are in correspondence one with the other. And there is more than this even. Two days after that dinner I was taking a stroll down by the quays when I saw Sir Robert and Mr. Schuabe, who had just landed from the Newhaven boat, get into the Paris train together."

A sudden short exclamation came from the chair on the opposite side of the fire. Very dimly and vaguely the vicar was beginning to see where Basil"s story was tending. The fire had grown low, and Mr. Byars replenished it. The noise of the falling coals accentuated the tension which filled the quiet room like a gas.

Then Gortre"s tired, but even and deliberate, voice continued:

"I will here ask you to consider one or two other points. Professor Llwellyn told us that he had a year"s leave from the British Museum owing to ill health. So long a rest presupposes a real illness, does it not? Now, of course, one can never be sure of anything of this sort, but it is, at least, curious and worthy of remark that Sir Robert seemed outwardly in perfect health and with a hearty appet.i.te. He also said that he was _en route_ for Alexandria. Well, Alexandria is the nearest port to Jaffa, which is but one day"s ride from Jerusalem. Now comes a still more curious part of my story. As I have told you, our parish in Bloomsbury is one in which a great cla.s.s of undesirable people have made their home. It cannot be denied that it is a centre of some peculiarly shameless vice. Much of the work of the clergy lies among women of a certain cla.s.s, and great tact and resolution is needed to deal with such problems as these people present. Some months ago a woman, whose face seemed in some vague way familiar to me, began to come to church. Once or twice she seemed to show an inclination to speak to me or my colleagues after the service, but she never actually did so. Eventually she called on Ripon, and confessed her way of life. Her repentance seemed sincere, and she was anxious to turn over a new leaf. It appeared that the girl was a rather well-known dancer at one of the burlesque theatres, and I must have seen her portrait on the h.o.a.rdings and advertis.e.m.e.nts of these places. She had been touched by something in one of my sermons, it seems, and Ripon requested me to go and see her. I did so, in the flat where she lived, and we had a chat. The poor thing was suffering from an internal disease, and had only a year or two to live.

She seemed a kindly, sensible creature enough, vulgar and pleasure-loving, but without any very great wickedness about her, despite her wretched life. She wanted to get right away, to bury herself in the country, and live a pure and quiet life until she died. The great difficulty in the way was the man whose mistress she was, and of whom she seemed in considerable fear. I explained to her that, with the help of Father Ripon and myself, no harm should come to her from him, and that her quiet disappearance from the scenes of her past life could be very easily managed. Then it came out that the man in whose power she was was none other than Sir Robert Llwellyn. _She told me that he had been for some time in Palestine._ She was expecting him back every day.

While we were talking Sir Robert actually entered the room, fresh from his journey. We had a fearful row, of course, and he would not go until I threatened to use force, and then only because he was afraid of the scandal. But before he went he seemed filled with a sort of coa.r.s.e triumph even in a moment of what must have been great discomfiture for him. I had to explain what had happened to him. I told him frankly that Miss Hunt--that was the woman"s name--was, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, about to lead a new and different life. Then this sort of triumph burst forth. He said that in a short time meddling priests would lose all their power over the minds of others. He said that Christ, "the pale dreamer of the East," should be revealed to all men at last. He quoted the verse about the grave from Matthew Arnold. And it was all done with a great confidence and certainty."

He stopped, worn out, and glanced inquiringly at Mr. Byars.

The vicar was evidently much moved and excited by the narrative. "The most curious point of all," he said, "in what you tell me is the fact of Sir Robert"s _private_ and _secret_ visit to Palestine some months before the discovery was made. Such a recent visit is entirely unknown to the public, who have been so busy with his name of late. The newspapers have said nothing of it. Otherwise, I see no reason why, in some way or other, Mr. Schuabe and Sir Robert may not have known of this tomb in some way before it was discovered by Hands, and their hintings of a catastrophe to faith may have simply been because of this knowledge which they were unwilling to publish."

Gortre shook his head. "No, it is not that," he said. "It is not that.

They would never have kept the knowledge secret. You have not been through the scenes with these men that I have. There are a hundred objections to that theory. _I am absolutely persuaded that this "discovery" is a forgery, executed with the highest skill, by the one man living capable of doing it at the instigation of the one man evil enough to suggest it._ The hand of G.o.d is leading me towards the truth."

"But the proof!" said the vicar, "the proof! Think of the tremendous forces arrayed against us. What can we do? No one would listen to what you have told me."

"G.o.d will show a way," said Gortre. "I know it. I had a letter from Harold Spence this morning. His work is done, and he has returned. At the end of the week the doctor says I shall be able to get back to Lincoln"s Inn. I shall take counsel with Harold; he is brilliant, and a man of the world. Together we will work to overthrow these devils."

"And meanwhile," answered Mr. Byars, with a despairing gesture, "meanwhile hope and faith are dying out of millions of hearts, men are turning to sinful pleasures unafraid, hopeless, desolate."

The strain had been too great, he was growing older; he bent his head on his hands, while the darkness crept into his soul.

CHAPTER IX

PARTICULAR INSTANCES, CONTRASTING THE OLD LADY AND THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The long Manchester station was full of the sullen and almost unbearable roar of escaping steam. Every now and again the noise ceased with a suddenness that was pain, and the groups of people waiting to see the London train start on its four hours" rush could hear each other"s voices strange and thin after the mighty vibration.

The feast of Christmas was over. Throughout the world the festival had fallen chill and cold on the hearts of mankind. The _Adeste Fideles_ had summoned few to worship, and the praise had sounded thin and hollow.

Even the faithful must keep their deep conviction as a hidden fire within them amid the din and crash of faith and the rising tides of negation and despair.

Gortre, Helena, and Mr. Byars stood together by the train side. They spoke but little; the same thought was in their brains. The jarring materialism of the scene, its steady, heedless industry, seemed an outrage almost in its cold disregard of the sadness which they felt themselves. The great engines glided in and out of the station, the porters and travellers moved with busy cheerfulness as if the world were not in the grip of a great darkness and horror, taking no account of it. They stood by the door of the carriage Basil had chosen, a forlorn group not quite able to realise the stir of life around them.

Gortre was pale and worn, but visibly better and stronger. His face was fixed and resolute. The vicar seemed much older, shrunken somewhat, and his manner was more tremulous than before. His arm was in Helena"s.

"Basil," said the vicar, "you are going from us into what must be the unknown--G.o.d grant a happy issue out of the perils and difficulties before you. For my part, I seem to be in an unhappy and doubting state.

It may be that you have the key to this black mystery and can dispel the clouds. I shall pray daily that it may be so. It is in the hands of G.o.d."

He sighed heavily as he gripped Basil"s hand in farewell. In truth, he had but little hope and had hardly been able to realise the young man"s story. It was almost inconceivable to him, the abnormal wickedness it suggested, the possibility that this great cloud could come upon the world at the action of two men, both of whom he had known, found pleasant, cultured people, and rather liked. The thought was too big to grasp, it confused and stunned him. It is a curious fact that this good man, who could believe, despite all contrary evidence, in the eternal truths of the Gospel, could not believe in the malignancy which Basil"s story had seemed to indicate.

Helena had not been told of Basil"s suspicions, only of his hopes. She knew that there was that in his mind which might lead once more to light and disperse the clouds. No details were given to her, nor did she ask for them. She was too serene and fine for commonplace curiosity. The mutual trust between the lovers was absolute. Nothing could strain it, nothing could disturb it; and in her love and admiration for Basil, Helena saw nothing incongruous or incredible in the fact that the young man hoped himself to bring peace back to the world.

To any one viewing the project with unbia.s.sed eyes it might have seemed beyond possibility, would have provoked a smile, this spectacle of an obscure curate going up to London in a third-cla.s.s carriage with hopes of saving his country"s faith, in the expectation of overthrowing the gigantic edifice of learned opinion, of combating a Sanhedrin of the great. Such people would have said with facile pedantry that this girl possessed no sense of humour, imagining that they were reproaching her.

For by some strange mental perversion most people would rather be told that they lack a sense of morals or duty than a sense of humour, and it is quite certain that this was said of John the Baptist as he preached in his unconventional raiment upon Jordan"s banks.

Helena and Basil walked slowly up and down the platform, saying farewell.

Her words of love and hope, her serene and unquestioning confidence, uplifted him as nothing else could do. At this moment, big with his own pa.s.sionate hopes and desires, yet dismayed at the immensity of the task before him, the trust and encouragement of one he loved were especially helpful and uplifting. It was the tonic he needed. And as the train slowly moved out of the station the bright and n.o.ble face of his lady was the last thing he saw.

He thought long of her as the train began to gather speed and rush through the smoky Northern towns. As many other people, Gortre found a stimulus to clear, ordered thought in the sensation of rapid motion. The brain worked with more power, owing to the exhilaration produced in it by speed.

As the ponderous machine which was carrying him back to the great theatre of strife and effort gathered momentum and power, so his mind became filled with high hopes, began to glow with eagerness to strike a great blow against the enemies of Christ.

He looked at the carriage, noticing for the first time, at least consciously, the people who sat there. He had two fellow-pa.s.sengers, a man and a woman. The man seemed to belong to the skilled artisan cla.s.s, decently dressed, of sober and quiet manner. His well-marked features, the prominent nose, keen grey eyes, and thick reddish moustache, spoke eloquently of "character" and somewhat of thought. The woman was old, past sixty, a little withered creature, insignificant of face, her mouth a b.u.t.ton, her hair grey, scanty, and ill-nourished.

The man was sitting opposite to Gortre and they fell into talk after a time on trivial subjects. The stranger was civil, but somewhat a.s.sertive. He did not use the ordinary "sir."

Suddenly, with a slight smile of antic.i.p.ation, he seemed to gather himself up for discussion.

"Well," he said, "I don"t wish individuals no particular harm, you"ll understand, but speaking general, I suppose you realise that your job"s over. The Church will be swept away for good "n" all in a few months now, and to my way of thinking it"ll be the best thing as "as ever come to the country. The Church has always failed to reach the labourin"

man."

"Because the labouring man has generally failed to reach the Church,"

said Gortre, smiling. "But you mean Disestablishment is near, I suppose?"

"That"s it, mister," said the man. "It must come now, and about time, too, after all these centuries of humbug. I used to go to church years back and sing "The Church"s one foundation." Its foundation"s been proved a pack o" lies now, and down it comes. Disestablishment will prove the salvation of England. When religion"s swept away by act o"

Parliament, then men will have an opportunity of talking sense and seeing things clearly."

He spoke without rudeness but with a certain arrogance and an obvious satisfaction at the situation. Here was a parson cornered, literally, forced to listen to him, with no way of escape. Gortre imagined that he was congratulating himself that this was not a corridor train.

"I think Disestablishment is very likely to come indeed," said Gortre, "and it will come the sooner for recent events. Of course I think that it will be most barefaced robbery to take endowments from the Church which are absolutely her own property, and use them for secular purposes, but I"m not at all sure that it wouldn"t be an excellent thing for the Church after all. But you seem to think that Disestablishment will destroy _religion_. That is an entire mistake, as you will find."

"It"s destroyed already," said the man, "let alone what"s _going_ to happen. Since what they"ve found out in Jerusalem the whole thing"s gone puff! like blowin" out a match. You can"t get fifty people together in any town what believe in religion any more. The religion of common sense has come now, and it"s come to stay."

A voice with a curious singing inflection came from the corner of the carriage, a voice utterly unlike the harsh North-country accent of the workman. The old woman was beginning to speak.

Gortre recognised the curious Cornish tones at once, and looked up with sudden interest.

"You"m wrong, my son," said the old woman, "bitter wrong you be, and "tis carnal vanity that spakes within you. To Lostwithul, where I bide, I could show "ee different to what you do say."

The workman, a good-humoured fellow enough, smiled superior at the odd old thing. The wrinkled face had become animated, two deep lines ran from the nostrils to the corner of the lips, hard and uncompromising.

The eyes were bright.

"Well, Mother," he said, "let"s hear what _you"ve_ got ter say. Fair do"s in argument is only just and proper."

"Ah!" she replied, "it"s easy to go scat when you"ve not got love of the Lard in your heart. I be gone sixty years of age, and many as I can mind back-along as have trodden the path of sorrow. There be a brae lot o"

fools about."

The workman winked at Gortre with huge enjoyment, and settled himself comfortably in his place.

"Then you don"t hold with Disestablishing the Church, Mother?" he said.