"I've no vast faith in the power of argument." The Vicar stood, hoe in hand, looking down on his companion. "The great foundation-truths of Christianity have to be fought for. But breath and temper are often wasted on non-essentials. People have to work out doubtful points for themselves." "Only Barbara 'was' wrong!" "So are you and I on a hundred points. We hope to be set right in time; if not in this life, then in the next." "Then oughtn't one to try to understand now?" "Try your hardest; and be ready always for fresh teaching. But try much more to do, to be, to live! It signifies less whether you have a great deal of light than whether you make the best possible use of such light as you have." She murmured a "Yes." "Beyond all, don't condemn others for seeing on these lesser questions not so clearly, perhaps, as you are conscious of seeing yourself. They may be all the while more fully after God's own heart. An ounce of true humility is worth gallons of excellent opinions. A cupful of Christlike self-abnegation is worth an ocean of correct definitions." He went back to his weeding, and presently a sound made Phyllys turn. "Oh!" she exclaimed. Colin stood on the gravel path with lifted cap and a light in his eyes. "I have come to finish the bust," he said. CHAPTER XXIII COLIN'S CONQUESTS COLIN conquered them all, "straight off," as the Vicar said, though with variations of speed, and apparently without effort. First to succumb was the Vicar himself. He gave unqualified approval to the delicate-looking young fellow, whom nobody would have taken for more than two or three and twenty; and the Vicar's wife followed suit. "He's the sweetest boy I ever saw," she declared with an enthusiasm which made her husband laugh. "Giles knows nothing about my coming," he said. "I'm supposed to be in the Highlands, abjuring work. Don't betray confidence, please. I wrote yesterday, and needn't write again." Phyllys supposed that he was under orders not to model, and that he intended to disobey. Mrs. Wyverne next fell a victim. She was fascinated at first sight, like the Vicar. She had given in to Giles, partly out of respect to the head of her family, partly as a result of pains on his part. Colin took no pains. He was introduced, smiled, announced that he had come to complete a work of art, Phyllys being the subject, and opposition collapsed like a pricked bubble. The old lady could hardly take her eyes from him. "I suppose you are counted like your mother," she said in unbelieving tones. "Not like what she was when she and I met; but, perhaps—" "My mother says I am like everybody in turn, which is much the same as being like nobody." "You certainly remind me of some one."