'
'I hope and trust that so it may be,' said Mr. Audley, more moved
than he could bear to show, but with fervour in his voice far beyond
his words.
'Felix,' said Fernando, resting on the name, 'Felix does seem as if
he must be right, Mr. Audley; can it be really as he says--and Lance-
--that their belief makes them like what they are?'
'Most assuredly.'
'And you don't say so only because you are a minister?' asked the boy
distrustfully.
'I say so because I know it. I knew that it is the Christian faith
that makes all goodness, long before I was a minister.'
'But I have seen plenty of Christians that were not in the least like
Felix Underwood.'
'So have I; but in proportion as they live up to their faith, they
have what is best in him.'
'I should like to be like him,' mused Fernando; 'I never saw such a
fellow. He, and little Lance too, seem to belong to something bright
and strong, that seems inside and outside, and I can't lay hold of
what it is.'
'One day you will, my dear boy,' said Mr. Audley. 'Let me try to help
you.'
Fernando scarcely answered, save by half a smile, and a long sigh of
relief: but when Mr.
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