ings by the same words."

He stood silent for a second or two and then resumed.

"A minute or two ago I caught you out in a real contradiction. At that
moment logically I was right. And at that moment I knew I was
wrong. Yes, there is a real difference between the natural and the
supernatural: if you flew up into that blue sky this instant, I should
think that you were moved by God--or the devil. But if you want to know
what I really think...I must explain."

He stopped again, abstractedly boring the point of his sword into the
earth, and went on:

"I was born and bred and taught in a complete universe. The supernatural
was not natural, but it was perfectly reasonable. Nay, the supernatural
to me is more reasonable than the natural; for the supernatural is a
direct message from God, who is reason. I was taught that some things
are natural and some things divine. I mean that some things are
mechanical and some things divine. But there is the great difficulty,
Turnbull. The great difficulty is that, according to my teaching, you
are divine."

"Me! Divine?" said Turnbull truculently. "What do you mean?"

"That is just the difficulty," continued MacIan thoughtfully. "I was
told that there was a difference between the grass and a man's will;
and the difference was that a man's will was special and divine. A man's
free will, I heard, was supernatural."

"Rubbish!" said Turnbull.

"Oh," said MacIan patiently, "then if a man's free will isn't
supernatural, why do your materialists deny that it exists?"

Turnbull was silent for a moment. Then he began to speak, but MacIan
continued with the same steady voice and sad eyes:

"So what I feel is this: Here is the great divine creation I was
taught to believe in. I can understand your disbelieving in it, but
why disbelieve in a part of it? It was all one thing to me. God had
authority because he was God. Man had authority because he was man. You
cannot prove that God is better than a man; nor can you prove that a man
is better than a horse. Why permit any ordinary thing? Why do you let a
horse be saddled?"

"Some modern thinkers disapprove of it," said Turnbull a little
doubtfully.

"I know," said MacIan grimly; "that man who talked about love, for
instance."

Turnbull made a humorous grimace; then he said: "We seem to be talking
in a kind of shorthand; but I won't pretend not to understand you. What
you mean is this: that you learnt about all your saints and angels