“And it’s comin’,” he added solemnly. “The crisis is comin’. It won’t be long before the worm will turn. Soon you’ll see the poor worms of the dust ridin’ triumphant on the whirlwinds of war!”
CHAPTER XXX
We had a bit of good news to discuss over our tea.
A lectureship had been offered to the Lad by a great Canadian university. The opportunity was unusual for a man so young, and we were all jubilant. A very human interest in his success had survived our exhaustive analysis of his temperament. We talked much of his future.
A week went by. Then the Lad read me a letter that gave me bitter disappointment. The honour was lost, and that through the Lad’s own action.
He had written, before accepting, that he was not an orthodox churchman. The authorities had replied that he could not then instruct their youth.
“That boy has a great deal more religion than he thinks he has,” the Doctor grumbled. “I should like to know where the university will get a stronger influence for good.”
But the Altruist shook his head. “His character has a certain nobility,” he said, “but he lacks the supreme touch of definite belief. The loftiest souls are sure. But I think the university wrong in confusing spiritual instinct with intellectual power.”
The Altruist was curiously radical in some of his views.
Even I gave the Lad only half-hearted approval. He had but his brains and his forth-coming book to win his way for him, and I could not help wondering if the confession had been necessary.