where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."

"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
kind.

"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."

"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."

"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."

"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"

"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
satisfaction of earthly lust?"

"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
first and happiness afterwards."

"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
into a common sophist."

"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true,