'Indeed, no,' said Lady Carbury, who did not in the least understand the nature of the question put to her.
'And when you've got your bishop, is it likely that a man should be able to do his duty in that capacity who has no power of his own to decide whether a clergyman under him is or is not fit for his duty?'
'Hardly, indeed.'
'The English people, or some of them,--that some being the richest, and, at present, the most powerful,--like to play at having a Church, though there is not sufficient faith in them to submit to the control of a Church.'
'Do you think men should be controlled by clergymen, Mr Barham?'
'In matters of faith I do; and so, I suppose, do you; at least you make that profession. You declare it to be your duty to submit yourself to your spiritual pastors and masters.'
'That, I thought, was for children,' said Lady Carbury. 'The clergyman, in the catechism, says, "My good child."'
'It is what you were taught as a child before you had made profession of your faith to a bishop, in order that you might know your duty when you had ceased to be a child. I quite agree, however, that the matter, as viewed by your Church, is childish altogether, and intended only for children. As a rule, adults with you want no religion.'
'I am afraid that is true of a great many.'
'It is marvellous to me that, when a man thinks of it, he should not be driven by very fear to the comforts of a safer faith,--unless, indeed, he enjoy the security of absolute infidelity.'
'That is worse than anything,' said Lady Carbury with a sigh and a shudder.
'I don't know that it is worse than a belief which is no belief,' said the priest with energy;--'than a creed which sits so easily on a man that he does not even know what it contains, and never asks himself as he repeats it, whether it be to him credible or incredible.'
'That is very bad,' said Lady Carbury.
'We're getting too deep, I think,' said Roger, putting down the book which he had in vain been trying to read.
'I think it is so pleasant to have a little serious conversation on Sunday evening,' said Lady Carbury. The priest drew himself back into his chair and smiled. He was quite clever enough to understand that Lady Carbury had been talking nonsense, and clever enough also to be aware of the cause of Roger's uneasiness. But Lady Carbury might be all the easier converted because she understood nothing and was fond of ambitious talking; and Roger Carbury might possibly be forced into conviction by the very feeling which at present made him unwilling to hear arguments.