o; and I am not without hope that even at this late hour some
further details may yet be revealed to us."

"It is possible, but we should be as cautious in accepting any fresh
details as in rejecting them. Should some heresy obtain wide acceptance,
visions will perhaps be granted to us that may be useful in refuting it,
but otherwise I expect nothing more."

"Neither do I, but I have heard people say that inasmuch as the Sunchild
said he was going to interview the air-god in order to send us rain, he
was more probably son to the air-god than to the sun. Now here is a
heresy which--"

"But, my dear sir," said Mr. Balmy, interrupting him with great warmth,
"he spoke of his father in heaven as endowed with attributes far
exceeding any that can be conceivably ascribed to the air-god. The power
of the air-god does not extend beyond our own atmosphere."

"Pray believe me," said my father, who saw by the ecstatic gleam in his
companion's eye that there was nothing to be done but to agree with him,
"that I accept--"

"Hear me to the end," replied Mr. Balmy. "Who ever heard the Sunchild
claim relationship with the air-god? He could command the air-god, and
evidently did so, halting no doubt for this beneficent purpose on his
journey towards his ultimate destination. Can we suppose that the air-
god, who had evidently intended withholding the rain from us for an
indefinite period, should have so immediately relinquished his designs
against us at the intervention of any less exalted personage than the
sun's own offspring? Impossible!"

"I quite agree with you," exclaimed my father, "it is out of the--"

"Let me finish what I have to say. When the rain came so copiously for
days, even those who had not seen the miraculous ascent found its
consequences come so directly home to them, that they had no difficulty
in accepting the report of others. There was not a farmer or cottager in
the land but heaved a sigh of relief at rescue from impending ruin, and
they all knew it was the Sunchild who had promised the King that he would
make the air-god send it. So abundantly, you will remember, did it come,
that we had to pray to him to stop it, which in his own good time he was
pleased to do."

"I remember," said my father, who was at last able to edge in a word,
"that it nearly flooded me out of house and home. And yet, in spite of
all this, I hear that there are many at Bridgeford who are still hardened
unbelievers."