"Surely——" began Paul, and stopped, wishing he had not begun.
"Well?" queried Tressor.
Paul took the plunge. "Well, you believe in our Lord, sir, don't you? And surely the Atonement and the Resurrection stand for dogmas."
Manning and Tressor exchanged a glance. Manning laughed. "'Now the Sadducees say there is no resurrection,'" he quoted.
Paul looked bewildered; the elder don a little grave. "I expect we do not both interpret the story in quite the same way, Kestern," he said.
"But, sir," said Paul earnestly, "what two ways can there be? The whole of Christianity is based on our Lord's Resurrection. 'If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.'"
Manning settled himself into his chair. "Do go on," he said. "Theology interests me enormously. I told you, Tressor, that Paul here would convert you if he could."
The boy felt uneasy. He did not want to argue and could not bring himself to speak to the don as Manning did, though he was well aware that Tressor would not in the least have resented it. But he felt he must say something, and his evangelical upbringing taught him what to say. "Surely the Bible story is simple enough," he said.
Tressor moved, for him, a trifle impatiently. "You think so, do you?" he said.
"Oh, yes," said Paul, much more sure of his ground now.