"
Joan waited till the last of the congregation had disappeared, and then
joined the little pew-opener who was waiting to close the doors. Joan
asked her what she had thought of the sermon, but Mary Stopperton, being
a little deaf, had not heard it.
"It was quite good--the matter of it," Joan told her. "All Roads lead to
Calvary. The idea is that there comes a time to all of us when we have
to choose. Whether, like your friend Carlyle, we will 'give up things'
for our faith's sake. Or go for the carriage and pair."
Mary Stopperton laughed. "He is quite right, dear," she said. "It does
seem to come, and it is so hard. You have to pray and pray and pray. And
even then we cannot always do it." She touched with her little withered
fingers Joan's fine white hand. "But you are so strong and brave," she
continued, with another little laugh. "It won't be so difficult for
you."
It was not until well on her way home that Joan, recalling the
conversation, found herself smiling at Mary Stopperton's literal
acceptation of the argument. At the time, she remembered, the shadow of
a fear had passed over her.
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