stream that has once descended
there is no path upwards.--It is never too late for the soul of a man.'

"And if he should laugh, and say: 'You fool, a man may remake himself
entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after
forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money
and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I
suppose! How can I be myself and another man?' Then answer him: 'Deep in
the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings
folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man's; mount
up with him!'

"But if he curses you, and says, 'I have eight millions of money, and I
care neither for God nor man!'--then make no answer, but stoop and write
before him." The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the
white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two
words the stranger had written.

The stranger said: "Say to him: 'Though you should seek to make that
name immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it
with diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi
to the sea, yet--." The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter
Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where
the name had been.

The stranger said: "And if he should curse yet further, and say, 'There
is not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money!
When I have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care
to!'

"Then say to him this one thing only, 'Thy money perish with thee!' and
leave him."

There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth
his hand. "Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but
the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation
sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest
creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the
mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be
and accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man;
though he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing
more:--Certain sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children
of Genius. In early youth each stands at the parting of the way and
chooses; he bears his gift for others or for himself. But forget this
never, whatever his choice may be; that there is laid on him a burd