"
The unusual length and the oratorical character of this warning were
strong evidence of the painter's feelings. Marchmont nodded a grave and
troubled assent.
"Still if I see the thing one way, I can't act as if I saw it the
other."
"You mustn't see it one way," said Morewood irritably. "If you must be
the slave of your conscience, hang it, you needn't be of your intellect.
Ask the Dean there." (The Dean, who had been drinking his port in
thoughtful peace, started a little.) "He'll tell you that belief is
largely or altogether--which is it?--an affair of the will."
The Dean was prudent; he smiled and finished his glass.
"If I chose to believe in the Crusade, I could," Morewood went on with a
satirical smile. "Or with an adequate effort I could think Jimmy Benyon
brilliant, or Fred Wentworth wise, or Alexander Quisante honest. That's
it, eh, Mr. Dean?"
"Well, the ordinary view may be appreciated, even if it's not entirely
embraced," said the Dean diplomatically. "The points of agreement are
usually much more important, for practice at all events, than those of
difference.
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