And Dearest, fearing that her idolized boy might grow up a man
like--well, like "Grumper" had been--hard, quarrelsome, adventurous,
flippant, wicked, pleasure-loving, drunken, Godless ... redoubled her
efforts to Influence-the-child's-mind-for-good by means of the
Testaments and Theology, the Covenant, the Deluge, Miracles, the
Immaculate Conception, the Last Supper, the Resurrection, Pentecost,
Creeds, Collects, Prayers.

And the boy's mind weighed these things deliberately, pondered them,
revolted--and rejected them one and all.

Dearest had been taken in....

He said the prayers she taught him mechanically, and when he felt the
need of real prayer--(as he did when he had dreamed of the Snake)--he
always began, "If you _are_ there, God, and _are_ a good, kind God"
... and concluded, "Yours sincerely, Damocles de Warrenne".

He got but little comfort, however, for his restless and logical mind
asked:--

"If God _knows_ best and will surely _do_ what is best, why bother
Him? And if He does not and will not, why bother yourself?"

But Dearest succeeded, at any rate, in filling his young soul with a
love of beauty, romance, high adventure, honour, and all physical,
mental, and moral cleanliness.

She taught him to use his imagination, and she made books a necessity.