life. For the moment will now have come when he
will have to decide whether of all others he will give himself to her,
and whether he can presume to ask of her that she will give herself
to him--and each to the other for all the rest of their lives. It is a
momentous decision to have to make. With his highly developed
power of vision he will have divined her true nature. But he will
have now to exercise his judgment on it--whether it will satisfy the
needs of his whole being and whether his whole being is sufficient
to satisfy her needs. Each has to be sure that his peculiar nature
satisfies--and satisfies fully--his or her own peculiar needs, and that
his peculiar nature satisfies the other's needs. A wrong decision here
is fatal. The responsibility is fearful. All will depend upon his
keenness of vision, his capacity for discrimination, and his
soundness of judgment. The decision may be arrived at swiftly and
consciously, or it may be come to unconsciously, gradually, and
imperceptibly. But shorter or longer the time, consciously or
unconsciously the method, it will have in the end to be made in a
perfectly definite fashion--yes or no--and from that decision there
can be no going back. And on that clear decision will hang the
future welfare not only of the one who makes it, but of both. Each,
therefore, has to decide for the welfare of both.

This is the real Day of Judgment. And each is his own judge. Now
all his and her past life and inborn nature is being put to the test in a
fierce ordeal--and the fiery ordeal of love is more searching even
than the ordeal of war. Every smallest blot and blemish, every
slightest impurity is shown up in startling clearness. Every flaw at
once betrays itself. What will not bear a strain immediately breaks
down. There is not an imperfection which is not glaringly displayed.
The other may not see it, but he himself will--and upon him is the
responsibility.

No wonder that both the one and the other hesitate to commit
themselves finally and irrevocably! Can he with all his blots and
blemishes, his failings and weaknesses, offer to give himself to the
other? Is he worthy to receive all that he would expect to receive in
return? Is he justified in asking that the whole being and the most
sacred thing in life should be given over utterly to him? It seems
astounding that any man should ever have the impudence to answer
such questions in the affirmative. Doubtless he would not have had