immortality. It is no selfishness in him."

"I am sure it is not," said Erica, warmly, "I shouldn't think he
could be selfish in any way. I am glad he spoke tonight; it does
one good to hear a speech like that, even if one doesn't agree with
it. I wish there were a few more clergymen like him, then perhaps
the tolerance and brotherliness he spoke of might become possible.
But it must be a long way off, or it would not seem such an
unheard-of thing that I should be talking like this to you. Why,
it is the first time in my whole life that I have spoken to a
Christian except on the most every-day subjects."

"Then I hope you won't let it be the last," said Brian.

"I should like to know Mr. Osmond better," said Erica, "for you
know it seems very extraordinary to me that a clever scientific man
can speak as he spoke tonight. I should like to know how you
reconcile all the contradictions, how you can believe what seems to
me so unlikely, how even if you do believe in a God you can think
Him good while the world is what it is. If there is a good God why
doesn't He make us all know Him, and end all the evil and cruelty?"

Brian did not reply for a moment. The familiar gas-lit street, the
usual number of passengers, the usual care-worn or vice-worn faces
passing by, damp pavements, muddy roads, fresh winter wind, all
seemed so natural, but to talk of the deepest things in heaven and
earth was so unnatural. He was a very reserved man, but looking
down at the eager, questioning face beside him his reserve all at
once melted. He spoke very quietly, but in a voice which showed
Erica that he was, at least, as she expressed it "honestly