faces, we were together, her hand on my forearm, upon the steps of the
church, and saw the familiar road stretching before us. But it was
not that road which lay before my eyes, but rather the path of our
lives;--that broader path on which our feet were now planted, so
pleasant to tread, and yet with its course so shrouded in the mist. Was
it long, or was it short? Was it uphill, or was it down? For her, at
least, it should be smooth, if a man's love could make it so.

We were away for several weeks in the Isle of Man, and then came back
to Oakley Villa, where Miss Williams was awaiting us in a house in which
even my mother could have found no dust, and with a series of cheering
legends as to the crowds of patients who had blocked the street in my
absence. There really was a marked increase in my practice; and for the
last six months or so, without being actually busy, I have always had
enough to occupy me. My people are poor, and I have to work hard for a
small fee; but I still study and attend the local hospital, and keep my
knowledge up-to-date, so as to be ready for my opening when it comes.
There are times when I chafe that I may not play a part upon some
larger stage than this; but my happiness is complete, and if fate has
no further use for me, I am content now from my heart to live and to die
where I am.

You will wonder, perhaps, how we get on--my wife and I--in the matter
of religion. Well, we both go our own ways. Why should I proselytise? I
would not for the sake of abstract truth take away her child-like faith
which serves to make life easier and brighter to her. I have made myself
ill-understood by you in these discursive letters if you have read in
them any bitterness against the orthodox creeds. Far from saying that
they are all false, it would express my position better to say that they
are all true. Providence would not have used them were they not the best
available tools, and in that sense divine. That they are final I deny. A
simpler and more universal creed will take their place, when the mind of
man is ready for it; and I believe it will be a creed founded upon those
lines of absolute and provable truth which I have indicated. But the old
creeds are still the best suited to certain minds, and to certain ages.
If they are good enough for Providence to use, they are good enough for
us to endure. We have but to wait upon the survival of the truest. If I
have seemed to say anything aggressive against