Sybella bristled up for action immediately; and Mr. Byng sent her a startled glance of sympathy up the length of the table; but being far distant, and being moreover a good deal charmed with his neighbour, Jean Trevelyan, he left actual fighting to Miss Devereux. She was equal to the occasion. Remedies for the Admiral's next attack of gout had to wait, while Sybella plunged into the fray—mauve silk and all, to the rescue of principle! Mr. Trevelyan found himself unexpectedly tackled, and put upon the defensive.
Miss Devereux was "quite sure the Fathers were not infallible. So very extraordinary that people should talk of them as they did! And only last Wednesday, Mr. Kennedy had pointed out in his sermon—Mr. Byng of course would remember—" with an appealing look—"had pointed out to them so carefully how all the Fathers contradicted each other about everything. So how could they possibly be infallible?"
Mr. Byng did remember, and he would have said more, but for a peculiar expression in Jean's eyes. He had never felt himself under exactly the same restraint.
"It is Mr. Kennedy who is infallible; not the Fathers," declared that dreadful Miss Moggridge, whipping unexpectedly into the discussion. "I don't know that they ever professed to be—did they, Mr. Trevelyan? But if Mr. Kennedy holds up his finger, and says, 'I think—' we are all to bow down to his decision."
Miss Devereux drew up her head, and opined that for anybody to say such things of such a man as Mr. Kennedy—
"Say such things! I only say he is a modern Pope! Infallible out-and-out. Much worse than to be an infallible company of old gentlemen!" said Miss Moggridge irreverently. "One would at least keep the others in check; but there's nobody to keep Mr. Kennedy in check. As for their contradicting one another, Mr. Kennedy contradicts himself every other minute. Infallible people always do—not only the Fathers."
A faint shadow of annoyance passed over Evelyn's face.
"Such a devotedly good man!" sighed Miss Devereux. "I am sure, if Mr. Kennedy—"
"But I don't see what his goodness has to do with the question," said Miss Moggridge, getting for the first time a little excited, and flipping a crumb over the table. "Popes generally are pretty good men, I believe—Protestants or otherwise. We're not in the Middle Ages now. I suppose the Fathers were good men too—but that didn't make them infallible, necessarily. Any more than Mr. Kennedy's goodness makes him infallible—or keeps him from being dull!"—sotto voce.
"There is, perhaps, a possibility," interposed Mr. Trevelyan, in a solemn and repressive voice, which somehow brought Miss Moggridge to a halt, "just a possibility, viewed even from the mere standpoint of common-sense, that the combined utterance of many good men may be likely to speak fuller and more sober truth than the single voice of one good man. Collective wisdom ought to contain more than individual wisdom. If I am in doubt on some theological point, I am naturally more disposed to turn to a consensus of thoughtful opinions, from the Fathers of the Church generally, than to appeal merely to one excellent man—however unexceptionable he may be as an individual."