"You'll tell me then in the morning that you've laid me bare?"

"I'll see what I can do; I'll sleep on it. But just one word
more," I added. We had left the room--I walked again with him a
few steps along the passage. "This extraordinary 'general
intention,' as you call it--for that's the most vivid description I
can induce you to make of it--is then, generally, a sort of buried
treasure?"

His face lighted. "Yes, call it that, though it's perhaps not for
me to do so."

"Nonsense!" I laughed. "You know you're hugely proud of it."

"Well, I didn't propose to tell you so; but it IS the joy of my
soul!"

"You mean it's a beauty so rare, so great?"

He waited a little again. "The loveliest thing in the world!" We
had stopped, and on these words he left me; but at the end of the
corridor, while I looked after him rather yearningly, he turned and
caught sight of my puzzled face. It made him earnestly, indeed I
thought quite anxiously, shake his head and wave his finger "Give
it up--give it up!"

This wasn't a challenge--it was fatherly advice. If I had had one
of his books at hand I'd have repeated my recent act of faith--I'd
have spent half the night with him. At three o'clock in the