"He will be able to find out from all
the vessels that come in to what extent there is disease on the
Magdalens."
The exciting cause in Caius of this remark was his father's indifference
and opposition, and the desire to probe it.
"You'll do nothing of the sort." Simpson's answer was very testy. "What
call have you to interfere with the Magdalens?" His anger rose from a
cause perhaps more explicable to an onlooker than to himself.
In the course of years there had grown in the mind of Caius much
prejudice against the form and measure of his parents' religion. He
would have throttled another who dared to criticise them, yet he
himself took a certain pleasure in an opportunity that made criticism
pertinent rather than impertinent. It was not that he prided himself on
knowing or doing better, he was not naturally a theorist, nor didactic;
but education had awakened his mind, not only to difficulties in the
path of faith, but to a higher standard of altruism than was exacted by
old-fashioned orthodoxy.
"I think I'd better write to Souris, sir; the letter is to me, you see,
and I should not feel quite justified in taking no steps to investigate
the matter."
How easy the hackneyed phrase "taking steps" sounded to Caius! but
experience breeds strong instincts. The elder man felt the importance of
this first decision, and struck out against it as an omen of ill.
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