ained with Harry to the end of his life--for that moment marked a
period.

As he walked up the hill he questioned Bethel about the pedlar.

"Oh, I had met him," he said vaguely. "One knows them all, you know.
But it is difficult to remember where. He is one of the last of his
kind and an amusing fellow enough----" But he sighed--"I am out of
sorts to-night--my kite broke. Do you know, Trojan, there are times
when one thinks that one has at last got right back--to the power, I
mean, of understanding the meaning and truth of things--and then,
suddenly, it has all gone and one is just where one was years ago and
it seems wasted. I tell you, man, last night I was on the moor and it
was alive with something. I can't tell you what--but I waited and
watched--I could feel them growing nearer and nearer, the air was
clearer--their voices were louder--and then suddenly it was all gone.
But of course you won't understand--none of you--why should you? You
think that I am flying a kite--why, I am scaling the universe!"

"Whatever you are doing," said Harry seriously, "you are not keeping
your family. Look here, Bethel, you asked me once if I would be a
friend of yours. Well, I accepted that, and we have been good friends
ever since. But it really won't do--this kind of thing, I mean.
Scaling the universe is all very well, if you are a single man--then it
is your own look-out; but you are married--you have people depending on
you, and they will soon be starving."

Bethel burst out laughing.

"They've got you, Trojan! They've got you!" he cried. "I knew it
would come sooner or later, and it hasn't taken long. Three weeks and
you're like the rest of them. No, you mustn't talk like that, really.
Tell me I'm a damned fool--no good--an absolutely rotten type of
fellow--and it's all true enough. But you must accept it at that. At
least I'm true to my type, which is more than the rest of them are, the
hypocrites!--and as to my family, well, of course I'm sorry, but
they're happy enough and know me too well to have any hope of ever
changing me----"

"No--of course, I don't want to preach. I'm the last man to tell any
one what they should do, seeing the mess that I've made of things
myself. But look here, Bethel, I like you--I count myself a friend,
and what are friends for if they're not to speak their minds?"

"Oh! That's all right enough. Go on--I'll listen." He resigned
himself with a humorous submission as th