"More of a great man? Monsignor, don't you think that the Average
Man makes the best ruler?"
"But that's rank Democracy!"
"Not at all. Democracy doesn't give the Average Man any real power at all. It swamps him among his fellows—that is to say, it kills his individuality; and his individuality is the one thing he has which is worth anything."
Monsignor sat down again, sighing.
"Well, I think it's got into me at last," he repeated. "I mean, I think I really realize what the world's like now. But I want to see a great deal more, you know."
"What sort of things?"
"Well, I don't quite know. . . . You might call it the waterline between Faith and Science. I see the Faith side. I understand that the life of the world moves on Catholicism now; but I don't quite realize yet how all that joins on to Science. In my day——" (he broke off) "I mean I had a kind of idea that there was a gap between Faith and Science—if not actual contradictions. How do they join on to one another? What's the average scientific attitude towards religion? Do people on both sides just say that each must pursue its own line, even if they never meet?"
Father Jervis looked puzzled.
"I don't quite understand. There's no conflict between Faith and Science. A large proportion of the scientists are ecclesiastics."
"But what's the meeting-point? That's what I don't see."