it as an individual, not as a priest speaking on the part of the
Church. But it may serve to account for a real difficulty, and
may be held without impiety. Of one thing at least we may rest
assured as Christian men; that the souls of the dead, whether of
saints or sinners, are in God's safe keeping, and walk the earth
no more."

Then I shook hands with M. Pierre, and we parted. And after that,
reader, I went to my friend's house, and spent my Christmas week
right merrily.





III. Beyond the Sunset
A Fairy Tale for the Times




I.

Once upon a time there was a Princess. Now, this Princess dwelt
in a far-off and beautiful world beyond the sunset, and she had
immortal youth and an ancestry of glorious name. Very rich, too,
she was, and the palace in which she lived was made all of marble
and alabaster and things precious and wonderful. But that which
was most wonderful about her was her exceeding beauty,--a beauty
not like that one sees in the world this side of the sunset. For