Professor Wilson laid his hand on Mr. Treadman's arm.
'You go too fast. No such assertion has been made; no such claim has been put forth. I may add that there has been no such outrage on good taste.'
The Rev. Martin Philipps interposed.
'Good taste is not necessarily outraged by such a claim; or, if it is now, it was also at the first. Jesus was a man, such as we are, such as this one here.'
Mr. Jebb agreed.
'And a labouring man at that. He worked with His own hands--a wage-earner if ever there was one.'
'But,' pleaded the Professor, 'at least something was known of His pedigree, of His credentials.'
'I am not so sure of that.'
'Nor I.'
'At any rate, let us proceed as if we were reasonable beings, and actuated by the dictates of common-sense. Permit me to put one or two questions: Are you an Englishman?'