Page:Arthur Machen, The Secret Glory, 1922.djvu/130

The Secret Glory of your art to the service of morality and humanity, when the doors of the great Exhibition were thrown open?'

Where was your silver eloquence, your voice of persuasion, when the strife of party was at its fiercest?'

Where was your God-given skill in healing when One of Royal Blood lay fainting on the bed of dire—almost mortal—sickness?'

"And the answer? 'I laid it up in a napkin.' And now, etc., etc."

Then the whole six hundred boys sang "O Paradise! O Paradise!" with a fervour and sincerity that were irresistible. The organ thundered till the bad glass shivered and rattled, and the service was over.

V

Almost the last words that Ambrose had heard after his wonderful awaking were odd enough, though at the time he took little note of them, since they were uttered amidst passionate embraces, amidst soft kisses on his poor beaten flesh. Indeed, if these words recurred to him afterwards, they never made much impression on his mind, though to most people they would seem of more serious import than 114