?'

'How?' he cried. 'Don't you see that in addition to what I will call
the spiritual power which would come through faith in, and obedience to
the will of God, you add a practical, human force? Let there be this
faith, this enthusiasm, and the people, the soldiers, would be ready
for anything. Our workpeople would cease going on strike, employers
and tradespeople would no longer be profiteers, grumbling and disunity
would cease. We should all _unitedly_ throw ourselves, heart and soul
into this great struggle, and nothing could withstand us.'

'But tell me why we are not worthy of victory, now,' I urged.

CHAPTER XIV

EDGECUMBE'S LOGIC

He was silent for a few seconds, and then went on quietly: 'You will
forgive me, sir, if I seem assertive, but I look on you as my
friend--and--and you know all about me--that I know myself. As I have
said before, I naturally look at things differently from others. I
have to be always beginning _de novo_. But tell me, sir, what do you
think are the greatest curses in the British Army? What ruins most of
our soldiers, body and soul?'

I hesitated a second, and then replied, 'Drink and--and impurity.'

'Exactly; and how much is the latter owing to the former?'

'A great deal, I dare say.'

'Just so. Now go a step further. Did not one of England's most
prominent statesmen say that he feared drink more than he feared the
Germans?'

'That was a rhetorical flourish,' I laughed.

'No, it was a sober considered statement. Now think. Before
I--I--that is before God became real to me, I looked at this question
from the standpoint of policy. I considered the whole thing in the
light of the fact that it was sapping our strength, wasting our
manhood. But I have had to go deeper, and now I see----great God, man,
it's ghastly! positively ghastly!'

'What is ghastly?' I asked.

'Look here, sir,'--and his voice became very intense,--'I suppose you
are typical of the educated Britisher. You stand half-way between the
extreme Puritan on the one hand, and the mere man of the world on the
other. Tell me this: Do you regard the body as of more importance than
the soul? Do you think material success more vital than the uplifting
of the real man? Do you look upon any gain won at the expense of a
man's character as a good thing?'

'No,' I replied, 'I don't. I am afraid that, as a people, we are
gripped very strongly by the material side of things, but
theoretically,