Time
for a term varying from, say, a hundred to two thousand years. After a
hundred years it may generally come down, though it will still be under a
cloud. After two thousand years it may be mentioned in any society
without holding up of hands in horror. Our sense of moral guilt varies
inversely as the squares of its distance in time and space from
ourselves.

Not so with heroism; this loses no lustre through time and distance. Good
is gold; it is rare, but it will not tarnish. Evil is like dirty
water--plentiful and foul, but it will run itself clear of taint.

The Doctor having thus expatiated on his own opinions concerning heaven
and hell, concluded by tilting at those which all right-minded people
hold among ourselves. I shall adhere to my determination not to
reproduce his arguments; suffice it that though less flippant than those
of the young student whom I have already referred to, they were more
plausible; and though I could easily demolish them, the reader will
probably prefer that I should not set them up for the mere pleasure of
knocking them down. Here, then, I take my leave of good Dr. Gurgoyle and
his pamphlet; neither can I interrupt my story further by saying anything
about the other two pamphlets purchased by my father.

CHAPTER XII: GEORGE FAILS TO FIND MY FATHER, WHEREON YRAM CAUTIONS THE
PROFESSORS

On the morning after the interview with her son described in a foregoing
chapter, Yram told her husband what she had gathered from the Professors,
and said that she was expecting Higgs every moment, inasmuch as she was
confident that George would soon find him.

"Do what you like, my dear," said the Mayor. "I shall keep out of the
way, for you will manage him better without me. You know what I think of
you."

He then went unconcernedly to his breakfast, at which the Professors
found him somewhat taciturn. Indeed they set him down as one of the
dullest and most uninteresting people they had ever met.

When George returned and told his mother that though he had at last found
the inn at which my father had slept, my father had left and could not be
traced, she was disconcerted, but after a few minutes she said--

"He will come back here for the dedication, but there will be such crowds
that we may not see him till he is inside the temple, and it will save
trouble if we can lay hold on him sooner. Therefore, ride either to
Clearwater or Fairmead, and see if you can find him. Try