'And...?' she murmured interrogatively.
'And I think there can be no doubt that there is more courage in the world now than there has ever been. We are the bravest generation that has ever lived—though our bravery is of a different type. All brutal attributes are expunged, and it is purely mental. There is no excitement in it, and therefore it is pure, independent courage. The Crusades were marvellous campaigns: we never try to realize now what it must have been for those men—most of whom had never even set foot on the deck of a ship—to go to sea in small ill-found vessels on a mere wild-goose chase, to a country of which they knew absolutely nothing. But the Crusades have been outdone; greater knowledge has told us of greater dangers, and yet men are ready to face them.'
'Without the incentive of religion.'
'Yes.'
'Then, Theo, you consider that religion has nothing to do with personal bravery?'
'Absolutely nothing.'
'That is a bold theory. Do you mean to say that a man will not fight the better for possessing a strong faith in a future life which will in every way be better than this—that his present existence will be of less value owing to the possession of that faith, and that, therefore, he will be readier to risk losing his life.'
'It is not a theory,' urged the man in his strange gentle way, which was crudely out of keeping with his words. 'It is an experience. Fanaticism undoubtedly generates courage; religion does not. On a battle-field, and on a sinking ship, I have found that a future existence, and all the unending questions that it arouses, occupy a very small place in men's minds.'
'Then of what are they thinking? What emotion do they show?'
'They are thinking of trifles, which we all do, all through life; and they generally either laugh or swear!'