by his son between the cloud-cap on Helvellyn's head and the
Almighty! Premising that the cloud-cap, though apparently stable, was
really created by the continuous passage of warmer air through a cold
region around the summit of the mountain, whereby it was for a moment
condensed into visibility and then swept on,--having postulated this
fact, and disregarding the elder's remark that he believed not a word
of it,--Balder went on to say that God was only a set of
attributes,--in a word, the perfection of all human attributes,--and
not at all an individual!

"And what has that to do with your cloud-making theory?" demanded
Thor, with scorn.

"The perfect human attributes," replied Balder, unruffled, "correspond
to the region of condensation,--the cold place, you understand."

"Do they? Well?"

"The constant condensation of the warm current from below corresponds
to the taking on of these attributes by a ceaseless succession of
human souls. Filling out the Divine character, they lose identity, and
so make room for others."

"What are these attributes?"

"They are ineffable,--they are omniscience,--the comprehension of the
whole creative idea."

"You expect me to believe that,--eh?" growled Thor.

"If I could believe you understood it, dear old sceptic!" returned
Balder, with affectionate irreverence, throwing his arm across his
father's broad shoulders. "I say that every soul of right capacity,
living for culture, and not afraid of itself, will at last reach that
highest point. It is the sublime goal of man, and no human life is
complete unless in gaining it. Many fail, but not all. I will not! No,
I am not blasphemous; I think life without definite aim not worth
having; and that aim, the highest conceivable."

Thor, having stared in silence at his descendant, came out with a
stentorian Viking laugh, which Balder sustained with perfect
good-humor.

"Ho, ho!--the devil is in you, son!--in those black eyes of
yours,--ho, ho! No other Helwyse ever had such eyes,--or such ideas
either! Well, but supposing you passed the condensation point, what
then?"

Balder, who was entirely in earnest about the matter, answered
gravely,--

"I cease to be; but what was I becomes the pure, life-giving,
spiritual substance, and enters into fresh personalities, and so
passes up again in endless circulation."

"Hum! and how with the evil ones, boy?"

"As with all waste matter; they are cast aside, and, as distinct
souls, are