"But they are better, aren't they?"
"I think they are," said David quietly.
"But I believe I like the new idea even better. Am I right again?"
"I suppose it is better in a way. It's less pretentious and spectacular, but has more warmth—more meaning, I suppose."
David tried to speak casually, but excitement was mounting. He caught up the new sketches and compared them eagerly with the old, forgetting for the moment what St. Christopher's had meant to him. And he saw the new idea as he had not seen it before.
"It is better," he muttered. "I—I hadn't realized."
"David!" It was hard to believe that Jonathan could be so stern. "You are a fraud. You came to me under false pretenses. You gave me to believe that you had been a failure."
"I was."
"You know better than that. Any man who can work out such things—!
For a very little I would give you your discharge this moment."
"But I beg of you—Mr. Radbourne, you don't know what my position means to me—"