Page:The Works of H G Wells Volume 11.pdf/145

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ELIHU REPROVES JOB

spirit of God in the hearts of men. . . which may fail. . . which may fail. . . which seems to me to fail."

§ 3

He paused. Dr. Barrack cleared his throat.

"I don't want to seem obdurate," said Dr. Barrack. "I want to respect deep feeling. One must respect deep feeling. . . . But for the life of me I can't put much meaning into this phrase, the spirit of God in the hearts of men. It's rather against my habits to worry a patient, but this is so interesting—this is an exceptional occasion. I would like to ask you, Mr. Huss—frankly—is there anything very much more to it, than a phrase?"

There was no answer.

"Words," said Mr. Dad; "joost words. If Mr. Huss had ever spent three months of war time running a big engineering factory———"

"My mind is a sceptical mind," Dr. Barrack went on, after staring a moment to see if Mr. Dad meant to finish this sentence. "I want things I can feel and handle. I am an Agnostic by nature and habit and profession. A Doubting Thomas, born and bred. Well, I take it that about the universe Mr. Huss is very much of an Agnostic too. More so. He doubts more than I do. He doubts whether there is any trace of plan or purpose in it. What I call a Process, he calls a windy desolation. He sees Chaos still waiting for a creator. But then he sets up against that this undying fire of his, this spirit of God, which is

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