I Capture the Castle

by Dodie Smith

I told myself that as I never gave the Church a thought when I was happy, I could hardly expect it to do anything for me when I wasn’t. You can’t get insurance money without paying in premiums.

‘Well, for inexperienced pray-ers it sometimes is. You see, they’re apt to think of God as a slot-machine. If nothing comes out they say, ‘I knew dashed well it was empty’ – when the whole secret of prayer is knowing the machine’s full.’ ‘But how can one know?’ ‘By filling it oneself.’ ‘With faith?’ ‘With faith.