She smiled down at him.

"I shall agree with him, you know," she said.

"Of course you will; it is but right. And I suppose I shall too."

"Will you wait for him? Tell him we are going home by the mill. It is
all over now."

Ralph nodded, and Mary moved off down the glade to join the others.

Ralph began to wonder how Nicholas would take the news of Chris'
decision. Mary, he knew very well, would assent to it quietly as she
did to all normal events, even though they were not what she would have
wished; and probably her husband would assent too, for he had a great
respect for a churchman. For himself his opinions were divided and he
scarcely knew what he thought. From the temporal point of view Chris'
step would be an advantage to him, for the vow of poverty would put an
end to any claims upon the estate on the part of the younger son; but
Ralph was sufficiently generous not to pay much attention to this. From
the social point of view, no great difference would be made; it was as
respectable to have a monk for a brother as a small squire, and Chris
could never be more than this unless he made a good marriage. From the
spiritual point of view--and here Ralph stopped and wondered whether it
was very seriously worth considering. It was the normal thing of course
to believe in the sublimity of the religious life and its peculiar
dignity; but the new learning was beginning to put questions on the
subject that had very considerably affected the normal view in Ralph's
eyes. In that section of society where new ideas are generated and to
which Ralph himself belonged, there were very odd tales being told; and