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on a sudden to have a personal application. He thought
about them through most of the sermon, and that night, on
getting into bed, he turned over the pages of the Gospel and
found once more the passage. Though he believed implicitly
everything he saw in print, he had learned already that in
the Bible things that said one thing quite clearly often mys-
teriously meant another. There was no one he liked to ask
at school, so he kept the question he had in mind till the
Christmas holidays, and then one day he made an opportu-
nity. It was after supper and prayers were just finished. Mrs.
Carey was counting the eggs that Mary Ann had brought
in as usual and writing on each one the date. Philip stood
at the table and pretended to turn listlessly the pages of the
Bible.
‘I say, Uncle William, this passage here, does it really
mean that?’
He put his finger against it as though he had come across
it accidentally.
Mr. Carey looked up over his spectacles. He was hold-
ing The Blackstable Times in front of the fire. It had come
in that evening damp from the press, and the Vicar always
aired it for ten minutes before he began to read.
‘What passage is that?’ he asked.
‘Why, this about if you have faith you can remove moun-
tains.’
‘If it says so in the Bible it is so, Philip,’ said Mrs. Carey
gently, taking up the plate-basket.
Philip looked at his uncle for an answer.
‘It’s a matter of faith.’

Of Human Bondage