"We each took a county," he answered. "Leicestershire fell to my lot. I selected Thorpe to begin with, because I have heard it spoken of as a model village." Wilhelmina's forehead was gently wrinkled. "I am afraid," she said, "that I am a somewhat dense person. Your reason seems to me scarcely an adequate one." "Our belief is," he declared, "that where material prosperity is assured, especially amongst this class of people, the instincts towards spirituality are weakened." "My people all attend church; we have no public-house; there are never any scandals," she said. "All these things," he admitted, "are excellent. But they do not help you to see into the lives of these people. Church-going may become a habit, a respectable and praiseworthy thing--and a thing expected of them. Morality, too, may become a custom--until temptation comes. One must ask oneself what is the force which prompts these people to direct their lives in so praiseworthy a manner." "You forget," she remarked, "that these are simple folk. Their religion with them is simply a matter of right or wrong. They need no further instruction in this." "Madam," he said, "so long as they are living here, that may be so. Frankly, I do not consider it sufficient that their lives are seemly, so long as they live in the shadow of your patronage. What happens to those who pass outside its influence is another matter." "What do you know about that?" she asked coldly. "What I do know about it," he answered, "decided me to come to Thorpe."