Piers broke into his sudden laugh. "Not as a tribe, I admit. I can't stand any man who makes an ass of himself, whatever his profession. But of course I don't mean to assert that all parsons answer to that description. I've met a few I liked." Crowther's smile developed into a laugh. "Then you won't deprive me of the pleasure of your friendship if I become one?" "My dear chap," said Piers forcibly, "if you became the biggest blackguard in creation, you would remain my friend." It was regally spoken, but the speaker was plainly so unconscious of arrogance that Crowther's hand came out to him and lay for a moment on his arm. "I gathered that, sonny," he said gently. Piers' eyes flashed sympathy. "And what are you going to do then? You say you're not going to settle in England?" "I am not," said Crowther, and again he was looking out ahead of him with eyes that spanned the far distance. "No; I'm going back again to the old haunts. There's a thundering lot to do there. It's more than a one-man job. But, please God, I'll do what I can. I know I can do a little. It's a hell of a place, sonny. You saw the outside edge of it yourself." Piers nodded without speaking. It had been in a sense his baptism of fire. "It's the new chums I want to get hold of," Crowther said. "They get drawn in so devilishly easily. They're like children, many of 'em, trying to walk on quicksands. They're bound to go in, bound to go under, and a big percentage never come up again. It's the children I want to help. I hate to think of fresh, clean lives being thrown on to the dust-heap. It's so futile,--such a crying waste." "If anyone can do it, you can," said Piers. "Ah! I wonder. It won't be easy, but I know their temptations so awfully well. I've seen scores go under, I've been under myself. And that makes a lot of difference." "Life is infernally difficult for most of us," said Piers. They rode in silence for awhile, and then he changed the subject. It was not till they returned that Crowther announced his intention of leaving on the following day. "I've no time for slacking," he said. "I didn't come Home to slack. And there's the mother waiting for me." "Oh, man," Piers said suddenly, "how I wish I had a mother!" And then half-ashamed, he turned and went in search of his grandfather. Again that evening Crowther accepted Sir Beverley's invitation to dine at their table. The old man seemed to regard Piers' friend with a kind of suspicious interest. He asked few questions but he watched him narrowly. "If you and the boy want to go to the Casino again, don't mind me!" he said, at the end of dinner. "We don't, sir," said Piers promptly. "Can't we sit out on the terrace all together and smoke?" "I don't go beyond the lounge," said Sir Beverley, with decision. "All right, we'll sit in the lounge," said Piers.