know the odds which the world sets against him, who has not suffered and struggled and tried the temper of the human spirit against the iron rigour of nature. Religion is not a comfortable thing of easy prayers and ready thanksgivings, but something as fierce and stubborn and consuming as life itself. How else is it to wither the hosts of the enemy? I want my allies to be fanatics. If my religion is not to include my politics, then I am content to have none, for to me the one as much as the other is an attempt to subdue the material world of our common sight into harmony with an unseen world of the spirit."

The stillness which still reigned in the room showed the Duchess that an atmosphere had been created too emotional for her comfort. But in spite of herself she had been impressed, and the cool tones of her voice had an unwonted feeling in them as she once more brought back the discussion to what she considered a reasonable level.

"It is a great creed, no doubt, and I am not going to criticise. Some of it frightens me a little, but then I am old-fashioned and easily frightened. The merit of it all seems to me to be that it allows for such ample differences among its disciples. You can add to and

subtract from it without altering its character. I suppose, Bob, that you would say that that is because it is a living thing, with all the generous waste and superabundance of life."

Lord Appin rose and walked to the window, where he stood for a little before he replied.

"Yes; it is alive, and in saying that we have used the final word of commendation. There is room within its shadow for all the policies which can inspire the hearts of wise men to a keener public duty. There is room for Carey's mysticism, and Wakefield's practical good sense, and Susan's Liberal principles, and Lady Amysfort's Toryism room, too, for the hard scientific faith of young men like Astbury and Hugh; room even for Sir Edward's anarchic individualism. It is still a far-away ideal, and there is a long task before us till it has become a fact. Few of us here will live to witness the realisation, but we shall see the outworks passed, and Flora's grandchildren perhaps may see the winning of the fort. I have always been suspicious of political fervour. To me there is something illbred and irrational about a heart worn on the sleeve of the shabby garments we use in public life. But I hold the man in contempt who is afraid to stake all on his ideal, and on this one ultimate ideal I have never wavered. I am on

the verge of old age, and I can claim the privilege of a life of candour and fair criticism and permit myself once in a while to become an enthusiast. So in all hope and in all humility I would paraphrase the words of another converted cynic and adopt them as my confession of faith I shall see it, but not now: I shall behold it, but not nigh.""

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CHAPTER XIV.

THE party wandered out to the verandah where a young moon was beginning to climb the vast arch of sky. So thin was its horn that it did not diminish the brilliance of the stars. The great trough beneath the house was lit by a stellar glow, which caught a few outjutting headlands in the sea of shadows, and outlined without revealing the abysses around them. The air was very quiet, cool without a hint of frost or wind; and only the tinkle of falling water broke in upon the stillness. The light from the drawingroom filled half the verandah, but the edge near the parapet was dark, and to one standing there the great house, looming up against the sky, was like a pharos in the wastes of night.

The Duchess with Lord Launceston and Mr Carey walked slowly towards the edge of the escarpment, their eyes caught by the magic of the scene.

"This old earth," said Carey at last, lifting

his head from his breast,-"that is what we have business with. How to shape her into something more worthy of our best, and how in the process to learn from her her mysterious wisdom! That is our problem. We have been too long away from her in barren cloudlands. Our new precept is that the kingdom of God is around us and within us."

Lord Launceston laughed as they stopped to lean over the balustrade. "You have been anticipated," he said, and he repeated :

"This way have men come out of brutishness
To spell the letters of the sky and read
A reflex upon earth else meaningless.

With thee, O fount of the Untimed! to lead ;
Drink they of thee, thee eyeing, they unaged
Shall on through brave wars waged.

More gardens will they win than any lost;
The vile plucked out of them, the unlovely slain.
Not forfeiting the beast with which they are crossed,
To stature of the gods will they attain.

They shall uplift their Earth to meet her Lord,
Themselves the attuning chord !" 1

"To-morrow," said the Duchess, "we all go home. I should not like Musuru to last for ever, but it rather spoils one's satisfaction in any other place. To-morrow we shall be crawling through the bush in the Mombasa train, and beginning to George Meredith, 'Hymn to Colour,' 13, 14.

1