a body to behave as though it were a spirit. A man
cannot imitate an invisible essence, any more than a sculptor can
imitate sound with a shape of clay. When we are spirits, we shall act as
spirits. Meanwhile we are men and women. As a man, I have not done
wrong. You have no right to judge me as an angel. Is that clear?"

"Terribly clear!" Francesca slowly shook her head. "And terribly
mistaken," she added.

"You see," answered the young man. "It is impossible to argue the point.
We do not speak the same language. You, by your nature, believe that you
can imitate a spirit. You are spiritual by intuition and good by
instinct, according to the spiritual standard of good. I am, on the
contrary, a normal man, and destined to act as men act. I cannot
understand you and you, if you will allow me to say so, cannot possibly
understand me. That is why I propose that we should agree to differ."

"And do you think you can sweep away all right and wrong, belief and
unbelief, salvation and perdition, with such a statement as that?"

"Not at all," replied Griggs. "You tell me that I am wicked. That only
means that I am not doing what you consider right. You deny my right of
judgment, in favour of your own. You make witnesses of spirits against
the doings of men. You judge my body and condemn my soul. And there is
no possible appeal from your tribunal, because it is an imaginary one.
But if you will return to the facts of the case, you will find it hard
to prove that I have ruined the life of an innocent woman, as you told
me that I had."

"You have! There is no denying it."

"Socially, and it is the fault of society. But society is nothing to me.
I would be an outcast from society for a much less object than the love
of a woman, provided that I had not to do anything dishonourable."

"Ah, that is it! You forget that a man's honour is his reputation at the
club, while the honour of a woman is founded in religion, and maintained
upon a single one of God's commandments--as you men demand that it shall
be."

Griggs was silent for a moment. He had never heard a woman state the
case so plainly and forcibly, and he was struck by what she said. He
could have answered her quickly enough. But the answer would not have
been satisfactory to himself.

"You see, you have nothing to say," she said. "But in one way you are
right. We cannot argue this question. I did not ask you to come in order
to discuss it. I sent for you to beg you to