So Paul went back another way.
Or, intermittently, they laboured at a rockery. The priest had been engaged upon it, but he took a dislike to the job soon after Paul's arrival. One day, after half an hour's work, he flung down his spade. Paul grounded a loaded wheelbarrow, and laughed.
"What in the world is the matter?" he demanded.
"I will not have a r-r-rockery in my garden," said the priest, "not a made rockery anyway. I knew it was a bad idea."
"Why ever?" asked Paul, frankly puzzled.
"The d-d-devil makes r-rockeries," said Father Vassall, "not G-G-God."
One evening Paul related at length the incidents of the Port o' Man mission, and particularly that of Mr. Childers. Father Vassall heard him gravely. At the close he asked: "Do you know David Etheridge?"
Paul shook his head.
"Ever heard of him?"
"No. Who is he?"