“Are you laughing at Ingram or at me?” said the priest.
“I was laughing because I believe I once saw a sea-serpent off the coast of Scotland, and I would say so if I were not afraid of Ingram. And I was also laughing because I thought you didn’t see that your views fit and where they fit. Ingram believes in the law which governed the past and governs the majority in the present; you believe in a possibility of the present—the certain law of the future.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well! because it struck me it was true! And regeneration is a possibility, regeneration of body and soul; and grace is a fact, and the swift transmutation of the sinner into the saint I believe to be possible.”
“Are these things facts? I don’t believe they are.”
“Will you believe me if I tell you a story?”
“If you vouch for it.”
“I do vouch for it. I know it’s true. There was a man once who had just come out of prison. He deserved his punishment. His friends cut him—quite justly; and he did not greatly care, save that he was angry. He had some means; he was not in want; he was independent both of work and friends. He drank a little when he came out of prison, not much. He would drink for a day or two, and then keep sober for a week. In the place where he was, a mission was being held; and with no great result.”
“They needed you there, Barra!”
The young man smiled.