indifferent to and independent of his friendship than she had ever been
before.

Elisabeth went back to London, and Christopher to his work again, and
little Willie drew nearer and nearer to the country on the other side of
the hills; until one day it happened that the gate which leads into that
country was left open by the angels, and Willie slipped through it and
became strong and well. His parents were left outside the gate, weeping,
and at first they refused to be comforted; but after a time Alan learned
the lesson which Willie had been sent to teach him, and saw plain.

"Dear," he said to his wife at last, "I've got to begin life over again
so as to go the way that Willie went. The little chap made me promise to
meet him in the country over the hills, as he called it; and I've never
broken a promise to Willie and I never will. It will be difficult for
us, I know; but God will help us."

Felicia looked at him with sad, despairing eyes. "There is no God," she
said; "you have often told me so."

"I know I have; that was because I was such a blind fool. But now I
know that there is a God, and that you and I must serve Him together."

"How can we serve a myth?" Felicia persisted.

"He is no myth, Felicia. I lied to you when I told you that He was."

And then Felicia laughed; the first time that she had laughed since
Willie's death, and it was not a pleasant laugh to hear. "Do you think
you can play pitch-and-toss with a woman's soul in that way? Well, you
can't. When I met you I believed in God as firmly as any girl believed;
but you laughed me out of my faith, and proved to me what a string of
lies and folly it all was; and then I believed in you as firmly as
before I had believed in God, and I knew that Christianity was a fable."

Alan's face grew very white. "Good heavens! Felicia, did I do this?"

"Of course you did, and you must take the consequences of your own
handiwork; it is too late to undo it now. Don't try to comfort me, even
if you can drug yourself, with fairy-tales about meeting Willie again. I
shall never see my little child again in this life, and there is no
other."

"You are wrong; believe me, you are wrong." And Alan's brow was damp
with the anguish of his soul.

"It is only what you taught me. But because you took my faith away from
me, it doesn't follow that you can give it back to me again; it has gone
forever."

"Oh, Felicia, Felicia, may God and you and Willie forgive me, for I ca