He had started life with a dream of service, but although his own sturdy
faith persisted, he had learned the cost of religion in dollars and
cents. So, going up town, he wondered if Clayton would increase his
church subscription, now that things were well with him.
"After all," he reflected, "war is not an unmixed evil," and outlined
a sermon, to be called the Gains of War, and subsequently reprinted
in pamphlet form and sold for the benefit of the new altar fund. He
instructed Jackson to drive to the parish house instead of to the
rectory, so that he might jot down the headings while they were in his
mind. They ran like this: Spiritual growth; the nobility of sacrifice;
the pursuit of an ideal; the doctrine of thy brother's keeper.
He stopped to speak to Jackson from the pavement.
"I daresay we shall be in frequent difficulties with that new car of
ours, Jackson," he said genially. "I may have to ask you to come round
and explain some of its mysterious interior to me."
Jackson touched his cap.
"Thank you, sir, I'll be glad to come. But I am leaving Mr. Spencer
soon."
"Leaving!"
"Going back to the army, sir."
In the back of his mind the rector had been depending on Jackson, and he
felt vaguely irritated.
"I'm sorry to hear it. I'd been counting on you."
"Very sorry, sir. I'm not leaving immediately."
"I sometimes think," observed the rector, still ruffled, "that a
man's duty is not always what it appears on the surface. To keep Mr.
Spencer--er--comfortable, while he is doing his magnificent work for the
Allies, may be less spectacular, but it is most important."
Jackson smiled, a restrained and slightly cynical smile.
"That's a matter for a man's conscience, isn't it, sir?" he asked. And
touching his cap again, moved off. Doctor Haverford felt reproved. Worse
than that, he felt justly reproved. He did not touch the Gains of War
that afternoon.
In the gymnasium he found Delight, captaining a basket-ball team. In her
knickers and middy blouse she looked like a little girl, and he stood
watching her as, flushed and excited, she ran round the long room. At
last she came over and dropped onto the steps at his feet.
"Well?" she inquired, looking up. "Did you get it?"
"I did, indeed. A beauty, Delight."
"A flivver?"
"Not at all. A very handsome car." He told her the make, and she flushed
again with pleasure.