He smiled a little sadly and said nothing.
'Oh, but I can; and I mean to be stupid, and dull, and proper, like you all day.'
'Why?' he asked, looking in perplexity at her.
'Same reason as for the hat; because you are stupid, and dull, and proper, and I hate to play second fiddle.'
They walked on in silence until they arrived at the cathedral.
'Service is going on,' said Osborne, in the porch. 'Would you like to attend portion of it?'
'No. Take me round and let me look at the shops. I do not go to church.'
'No. I was brought up in the Church of England; but I have given up going to church. I am not profane enough to treat the service as a spectacle or a musical performance, and I am not sincere enough to treat it on higher grounds.'
'I am exceedingly sorry to hear you say so.'
'I have worn off most of my faith with travel and change.'
'Then I would recommend you to rest from travel and change until your faith comes back again.' He had paused and was looking down earnestly into her face.
An accent of solicitude in the man's voice arrested the girl's attention. For the first time her face was turned to his without a smile, and she looked up gravely to him. She spoke, after a short pause,--
'What you say interests me more than you might think, for I am not nearly so happy or quiet in my mind as when I went--' she pointed to the cathedral, in the shadow of which they were standing.
'Nor will you ever be. So long as we are in the great hurry and bustle of life, we do not feel the necessity strong upon us. But each one of us has to go out of life alone. That is the terrible thought--alone. The future is of the utmost consequence to us. It can be made as valid a certainty as this great church under which we stand. Look up, and think of that church alone. That noble pile is the symbol of a nation's faith. All over the world St Paul's is known. It is the loftiest point in all these miles that make up London. Four millions of Christian men and women are clustered round its feet, draw breath and kneel in worship in sight of its cross. This is the greatest church built by the most practical race. When we consider that the most practical race on earth built this monument of faith, the opinion of the individual ought to be hushed before such a proof of devotion. Sceptics, scientists, and voluptuaries may rail as they will, there is the great fact hung by our nation between London and heaven.' He had forgotten whom he was speaking to. He looked down, coloured quickly, and said,--'I beg your pardon, Miss Gordon; I forgot you wished to see the shops. Let us go.'