Staggchase; but it at least assured him that he had not been mistaken
in his mental attitude toward the creed he had discarded.
The thing which most moved him was the sight of Philip among the
surpliced deacons in the procession. Philip's face seemed to him
thinner and paler than of old; he blamed himself that he had not
disregarded his friend's injunction, and insisted upon seeing him. To
his repeated requests Philip had returned answer that he could not bear
the meeting. Maurice had come at length to feel something almost of
resentment at the wall which this prohibition put between them; but to-
day, seeing the white countenance, he experienced a pang of deep self-
reproach. He reflected how sharply his defection must have weighed his
friend down. He should have tried to comfort him; at least he should
have assured Phil that in spite of whatever might come his affection
would remain unchanged.
He thought lovingly of the old days when he and Phil were together, and
of the plans they had sometimes made for keeping if possible together
even after they went out into the world to work. He had the impatience
of one who has recently put a doctrine by for the blindness, as it
seemed to him, which kept Phil still in the power of the old
superstition; but with his friend's white face, marked with mental
suffering, there to soften him, he dwelt little on this, and much on
his affection for his friend and fellow.
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