'No, sir. My question was broader.'
'Broader!'
'It was, briefly, the question whether I would serve God or Mammon.'
'I profess I do not understand you now!' said his father.
'You are aware, sir, the world is divided on that question; making two parties. Before going any farther, I had a mind to determine to which of them I would belong. How can a navigator lay his course, unless he knows his goal?'
'But, my boy,' said his mother, now anxiously and perplexedly, 'what do you mean?'
'It amounts to the question, whether I would be a Christian, mother.'
Mr. Dallas slued his chair round, so as to bring his face somewhat out of sight; Mrs. Dallas, obeying the same instinctive impulse, kept hers hidden behind the screen of her coffee-urn, for she would not her son should see in it the effect of his words. Her answer, however, was instantaneous:
'But, my dear, you are a Christian.'
'Am I? Since when, mother?'