The First Soprano | Page 5

Hubert was a sceptic, and he
did not like to appear what he was not. But occasionally he went to
hear what might be said and turn it over in his questioning brain. He
was a young man of strong aversions, and one of his special dislikes
happened to be the unfortunate Doctor Schoolman.
"I hate cant," he declared. "His very tones are studied and unnatural.
His voice quavers to order, and if I should see tears on his face I should
think he had pumped them up someway for effect. I don't like to be
practiced on. I should like a man to believe something earnestly and
say it honestly."
And so he stayed away for the most part, but like many a man who is a
sceptic, found that the subject of the Christ would not down, and he
could not let it alone. So after absences he would go again to hear,
though it should be only to gain fresh occasion for his doubts or cynical
criticisms. To-day he was the first to arrive at home and met Winifred
in the hall as she came in.
"The spiritual priesthood did very well to-day, Winnie," he said, by
way of greeting. "I hope you all sang 'with grace in your hearts unto the

Lord.' I am sure Frothingham did. I saw him--eh, Winnie, what's the
matter?"
For Winifred had turned a quivering face toward her brother.
"I didn't, Hubert," she said. "There was no grace in my heart." And then
she hastened up the stairs to her room.
"Hm-m!" said Hubert reflectively, and repeated the observation at
intervals until dinner was served.

CHAPTER II
THE HOUSE OF GRAY
The family gathered for dinner with its usual decorum. Winifred sat
opposite the young minister, and Hubert was beside him. Mr. Robert
Gray carved the turkey with his usual skill and the sharpest of knives.
He began his anticipated discussion with the preacher:
"Your sermon fitted pretty closely to-day, Mr. Bond," he said, as he
separated a joint successfully.
"Did it really?" said Mr. Bond, with a smile that lit up a singularly
pleasant face. "I am glad to hear it. That is what sermons are for, I
believe?"
"Just so," said Mr. Gray, and he added with a little chuckle of
enjoyment, "I like it--I like it. We need it, I assure you. There is no
question about that. Why, Winnie, not a bit of the fowl? You are losing
your appetite, child. Yes, sir, we need to be stirred up. If there is
anything I believe in, it is sincerity. But now, don't you think, Mr. Bond,
that you put it just a little grain too stiff?"
"In what way, Mr. Gray?"
"Well, now, I say the Apostles' Creed. I know it by heart. I don't know

how many hundreds of times I have said it. It says itself. Perhaps that is
why I don't always stop to think what it does say. But I do not suppose
there is a word in it that I do not believe. Now if my mind happens to
wander while I am, saying it--if it happens, mind you--"
"Father, Julia is waiting for Mr. Bond's plate," interposed Mrs. Gray
softly from the other end of the table.
"I beg your pardon." Then, as the delinquent plate went to its
destination, "If my mind happens to wander to some little matter of
business, or something or other, while I say the Creed--_am I a
hypocrite_?"
The merchant propounded the question with a note of triumph, as
though the bold-spoken minister were rather cornered now. Mr. Bond
answered respectfully, but with subdued amusement:
"I think, Mr. Gray, that the Lord would recognize the absence of
insincere intent, but that so far as worship goes, you might as well set
some Tibetan prayer-wheels going."
A gleam of enjoyment shot from Hubert's eyes, and a laugh almost
escaped him.
"Ah, just so--just so!" said Mr. Gray, a little discomfited. "But would it
be better not to say it?"
"It would be better to mean it," said Mr. Bond.
"He parries well," thought Hubert.
"Winifred," said Mrs. Gray, off whose smooth nature these discussions
rolled harmlessly, "the music was very fine this morning."
Winifred, who would have preferred almost any subject to this, cast an
appealing glance at her mother, but it was unheeded. She had hoped Mr.
Bond would not recognize her as the singer.
Mrs. Gray went on: "Mrs. Butterworth, who sits just the other side of

the partition from us, you know, was quite carried away. She looked
volumes at me, but she just whispered 'heavenly!' She said after church
she hoped you would come to her party next week and bring your
songs. You have such a gift, she said."
And Mrs. Gray herself