"For maself A've made ma choice. A'm not a Christian in the ordinary sense: A don't attend Church or Chapel, like soom folk. But A believe we're all members one of another, and that the one prayer which matters--if said from the heart of men who believe in it and work for it--is _Our Father_: the Father of Jew and Gentile, English and German. And ma recent visit to Germany has confirmed me in ma faith in the people, although A couldna say as much for their rulers. Look about you! What do you see?--The sons and daughters of God rotting away from tuberculosis in every slum in Christendom, and the money and labour that should go to redeeming them spent on altar-cloths and armaments. Altar-cloths and armaments! Do your rulers never turn their thoughts and eyes to Calvary? There are plenty of em in your midst and plenty to see on em if you want to." The engineer sat down. "Muck!" said Mrs. Lewknor in her husband's ear. "I'm not sure," replied the Colonel who had listened attentively; but he didn't wholely like it. Joe had always been frothy; but of old beneath the froth there had been sound liquor. Now somehow the Colonel saw the froth but missed the liquor. To his subtle and critical mind it seemed that the speaker's fury was neither entirely simulated nor entirely real. Habit was as much the motive of it as passion. It seemed to him the expression of an emotion once entirely genuine and now only partly so. An alloy had corrupted the once pure metal. He saw as clearly as a woman that Joe was no longer living simply for one purpose. _Turgid_ his wife had once called the engineer. For the first time the Colonel realised the aptness of the epithet. Then he noticed Ruth on the fringe of the crowd. He was surprised: for it was a long march from Old Town, and neither Ernie nor the children were with her. "Come to be converted by the apostles of pacifism, Mrs. Caspar?" he chaffed. "No, sir," answered Ruth simply, her eyes on the platform. "I just come along to hear Joe. That's why I come." Her face lighted suddenly, "There he is!" she cried. The engineer had jumped down from the platform and was making straight for her. Ruth joined him; and the two went off together, rubbing shoulders. The Colonel strolled back towards the car: he was thoughtful, even grave. Mrs. Lewknor met him with a little smile. "It's all right, Jocko," she told him. "She's only playing with the man." The Colonel shook his head. "She's put up the shutters, and said she's out--to her own husband. It's a dangerous game." "Trust Ruth," replied the other. "She knows her man." "Perhaps," retorted the Colonel. "Does she know herself?" CHAPTER XXV RED IN THE MORNING Joe Burt's rhetoric might not affect the Colonel greatly; but the impressions of Mr. Geddes, conveyed to him quietly a few days later in friendly conversation, were a different matter.