me more," said Good with a quizzical smile. Suddenly his
voice changed and his eyes closed. "The whole problem of life," he
murmured dreamily, "is to reconcile the soul and the body. Part of us is
kin to the angels. We get very near to heaven, sometimes. We all have
our moments of strength. We leave the clay--but we fall back. Hell is
only the burden of flesh. Ah well--I've had my moment. Some day I may
have another. Perhaps here. Perhaps not. Perhaps what I have seen of
heaven will come to someone else. Maybe that's the true reincarnation.
We die and our light goes out. Perhaps we weaken and put it out
ourselves. But maybe it does not really go out at all. Who knows? It may
have been taken from us and placed in fresh hands--and so, on and on,
through struggle and failure, and success and treachery and cowardice
and courage ... until the great purpose of it all is realised. We're
only woodpeckers on a tree. And Igdrasil is mighty. Some peck more, some
peck less--none does much. But perhaps it's only how we peck that
counts. Maybe so--maybe so...."

His voice died away and he covered his face with his hands. It seemed to
Judith that a veil had been momentarily raised, permitting a glimpse
into a heart which was bruised and weary, but in which courage--the
courage which has known defeat, the noblest of all--still reigned. The
walls of the familiar room faded into illimitable distance, the breeze
rustling the leaves outside sank suddenly, and out of the silence came a
sweet, mysterious song filling her heart with exaltation, a sense of
grace which hurt.

Then the light declined quickly, and there was a crimson glow in the
west, gradually purpling.

"I must go," he said abruptly. "It's late."

"Oh--won't you stay to dinner?"

"No."

His negative was too final for her to press that topic further. She
chose another.

"Let's see the sunset first. We may have no more days like this."

"I am quite sure of that." The words were murmured under his breath.
They seemed to Judith, still under the mysterious spell which had been
cast about her, to be fraught with solemn significance. Suddenly she
realised that it was cold. She shivered even when she had donned her
coat.

Quite silently they walked into the garden, and without either speaking,
went straight to the spot where their lines of life had first crossed.
He looked about him, a twisted little smile on his lips.

"Here is where Roger wanted to have me thrown out," h