Lanny thought and then asked: “Just what does he want me to do?”
“He'll tell you that himself. All you have to do is to listen.”
Another pause. Finally the son was moved to say: “I suppose he didn't want me to come to Newcastle?”
“He has agreed to accept you as one of his grandsons. And I think it is important that he should be made to do it.”
“Well, whatever you say. I want to please you. But if you're doing it for my sake, you don't have to.”
“I'm doing it for my own,” said the other, grimly.
“It's been so many years, Robbie. Doesn't that count with him at all?”
“In the sight of the Lord a thousand years are as a day.”
Most of the persons Lanny had met in his young life never said anything about the Lord, except as a metaphor or an expletive. Several had said in his hearing that they didn't believe any such Being existed. But now the thought came to Lanny that his father differed from these persons. Robbie believed that the Lord existed, and he didn't like Him.