“What on earth is a stock?” Edmund asked.
“It is the black silk thing below what you call a dog-collar. The two combined are the symbol of the Apostolic Succession. A stud, or a button-hole in front, is a split—the stigma of Schism. It is commonly associated with a white tie, an arrogant assumption of individual blamelessness only possible in a heretic.”
“Well now, that’s something I never understood before,” said Captain Welfare. “You mean a church parson isn’t better than another man, or don’t reckon to be, outside of his official position? Out of his uniform, eh?”
“I don’t know that I meant all that,” I said, rather taken aback by this literal interpretation of my frivolous talk. “I’m not much of a theologian, but I think what you say is something very like the Anglican idea.”
“Well, I like it,” he said; “I’ve known preachers at home as has worn the biggest kind of white ties, and it’s some of their ways as has stuck in my gizzard and made me the back-slider I am. Mr. Davoren, when I get ashore, I’d like to join your church. I’d take it kindly if you’d baptise me, sir.”
I said I should be delighted. I did not see what else I could say under the circumstances, although I have a rooted objection to proselytes of every description.
“The question is,” said Edmund impatiently, “whether Welfare’s drill kit or mine would fit you best? We’ve both got plenty of clean spare suits, and I can rig you up with a pith helmet. I was only worried about the collar. You won’t want one in the desert; but it’s rather important you should turn up in Alexandria in clerical kit.”
“I can manage that all right,” I said indifferently. “I suppose my own clothes would be too warm?”
“Much too warm. You couldn’t stand them.”
Edmund spoke decisively and I sighed, for I dislike wearing clothes that have not been made for me. Edmund is two inches taller than me, and of late I have shown distinct signs of what my father used to call “the elderly spread.” On the other hand Captain Welfare, though about my own height, is immensely larger in all his other dimensions.