I did not join this Order to sit about playing with
vestments. I wanted to bring soldiers to God. If this Order is to be
turned into a kind of male nunnery, I'm off to-morrow. I'm boiling over,
that's what I am, boiling over. If we can't afford to do what we should
be doing, we can't afford to build gatehouses, and lay out flower-beds,
and sit giggling in tin cloisters. It's the limit, that's what it is,
the limit."
Brother Athanasius stood there flushed with defiance, until the Father
Superior told him to sit down and not make a fool of himself, a command
which, notwithstanding that the feeling of the Chapter had been so far
entirely against the head of the Order, such was the Father Superior's
authority, Brother Athanasius immediately obeyed.
Brother Dominic now rose to try, as he said, to bring an atmosphere of
reasonableness into the discussion.
"I do not think that I can be accused of inconsistency," he pointed out
smoothly, "when we look back to our general Chapter of a year ago.
Whatever my personal feelings were about closing the Sandgate priory, I
recognized at once that the Reverend Father was right. There is really
no doubt that we must be strong at the roots before we try to grow into
a tall tree. However flourishing the branches, they will wither if the
roots are not fed.
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