"Six to four on his Lordship," said Desmond, still lazily.
"Will you come?" Kathleen asked.
"Of course I will. I have a spiritual conundrum of my own to be answered, and no one can find the solution but he. Book a seat for me in the car."
"May we take Molly Healy?" Kathleen asked.
"Who better? Molly Healy would make the longest road short and the roughest one smooth. If we puncture or blow out, she will cause us to forget the trials that pursue the tyres of a motor car."
The following day, at nine o"clock, the big "Layton" car, resplendent in a recent coat of paint, well shod, and perfectly equipped, started from the house on the long journey to Millerton. Denis Quirk was at the wheel, the chauffeur beside him. In the tonneau Molly Healy and Desmond O"Connor kept up a crossfire of good-humoured raillery, while Kathleen sat between them, smiling at their jests. It was a bright, sunny day, with a gentle breeze blowing from the south; the roads were smooth, and the motor throbbed along throwing the miles behind her, and the dust in the faces of those whom they pa.s.sed on their way.
"A brief epitome of this Commonwealth," said Denis Quirk, with a wave of his hand as they were running through a vast, untenanted domain, protected on either side by rows of dark green pines. "Neglected opportunities! Land that should be supporting one hundred families wasted on one man."
Again they were hurrying between cultivated farms and farm houses, widely scattered, but sufficiently near to one another to represent civilisation. Double-fronted wooden houses were dotted here and there, single-storied, each with its wide verandah, a small garden, and possibly a row of pine trees to guard them from the wind. Behind them each had its row of wooden outbuildings, large haystacks, and sleek cattle feeding on green meadow-land.
"The proof of what we can do--given the one necessary thing, man. Lord!
how the j.a.ps must gnash their teeth when they think of the prize out here in the lone Pacific! When I am a politician----."
"Why not now?" Desmond asked. "Go forth and preach your new crusade. You can"t begin too soon."
"I object to his preaching it in a car. Motors were never made for moralising. There"s a feeling, in riding in a car, that makes a person lazy and contented," cried Molly Healy.
"Until something goes wrong with the car," suggested Desmond.
"Then----."
"I have heard them in difficulties, and my ears are still tingling and my conscience burning me for the language they used," said Molly Healy.
"It"s no use carrying other men"s sins on your conscience. Haven"t you sufficient of your own?" asked Desmond.
"That is between me and my confessor, Desmond. But if I don"t carry these men"s crimes no one will trouble about them, for they don"t seem to think it a sin to swear at a motor, although they call the thing "she.""
"That"s why they abuse her--woman was the original cause of sin, and still is, nine cases out of ten."
"Shame on you! The world would have little virtue to be boasting of were it not for us poor women."
"And less of sin," Desmond replied, cynically.
"Peace, children!" said Kathleen; "you spoil the scenery."
The Bishop was at home--a handsome man, tall and erect, with a stern face, yet one that was singularly sweet.
"Well, my child," he asked Kathleen, "what can I do for you?"
"Mr. Quirk wished to know you, my Lord," Kathleen answered, with a smile. "I brought him from Grey Town to introduce him to you."
"It is very kind of Mr. Quirk to come all this way to see me. Perhaps you will lunch with me, now that you have come so far."
"Oh! no, my Lord----," cried Kathleen.
"Oh! yes, my child. You have something to say to me?" he asked Desmond.
"It is private, my Lord--but it can wait," Desmond answered.
"No; it must not wait. Come with me, and talk until luncheon is prepared. I will send Father Geary to entertain your friends."
In his study, a small room, where large books on Theology were ranged on shelves round the walls, where a large silver crucifix stood on the table, with the Bishop"s breviary and writing materials beside it, he bade Desmond sit down. Then he began to interrogate him shrewdly, but kindly.
"You wish to be a priest?" he asked.
Desmond eyed the Bishop in profound surprise, and his Lordship continued:
"How do I guess? Eh? It is not great wisdom nor the black art that has told me your secret. A friend wrote to me----."
"Mrs. Quirk!" cried Desmond.
The Bishop smiled, and his usually stern face relaxed, so that the lines and wrinkles of care smoothed themselves out.
"A friend," he answered, "who was interested in you, and anxious for advice."
"My Lord, I am quite uncertain. I can see which is the better, and which the more difficult."
"Make a retreat, my child; then come to me again."
"Tell me it is impossible, my Lord!" cried Desmond.
"Nothing is impossible. I was myself a man of the world like you, and, when I found myself confronted with a vocation, I was for running away, like you. But the grace of G.o.d constrained me by force."
"I can save my soul in the world," said Desmond.
"You may; probably you will. But there are other souls to save besides your own. Make a retreat, my child----."
"But I know what the result will be. There can be only the one answer."
"Then a retreat is not needed, but it will do you good. The Bishop commands you to make a retreat--at once!"
After luncheon, a plain meal, seasoned with good stories and laughter, they bade his Lordship a respectful good-bye. He stood at the door watching them as the car slipped down the avenue. On his face was the smile of one who has scored a triumph. Kathleen turned to Denis, and asked:
"What do you think of my Bishop?"
"Equal in every respect to my own, and that represents the very summit of virtue. But Desmond can tell you more of his Lordship than I. I met him as a mere man; Desmond was privileged to a more intimate knowledge."
Desmond smiled as he answered:
"A wise counsellor and a kind Father. He administers unpleasant medicine, flavoured with human kindness."
"And will you be taking the Bishop"s black draught?" asked Molly Healy.
"I have not decided whether I shall swallow it or throw it away," he answered evasively.