er of obscurity, gleaming
differently in every different place and yet be unchangeable.
Murderer, robber, violator, saint, priest, king, beggar--they were all
parts of a wonderful, inevitable world, and, he saw it now, were all of
them essential. He had been tolerant before from a wide-embracing
charity; he was tolerant now from a wide-embracing knowledge: "Er
liebte jeden Hund, und wuenschte von jedem Hund geliebt zu sein."

They had all learnt in that last three weeks. Dahlia Feverel would
pass into the world with that struggle at her heart and the strength of
her victory--his father would solve the greatest question of
all--Robin! Mary! Clare!--they had all been learning too, but what it
was that they had learnt he could not yet tell; the conclusion of the
matter was to come. But it had all been, for him at least, only a
prelude; he was to stand for the world as head of the House, he had his
life before him and his work to do, he had only, like Robin, just "come
of age."

He did not know why, but he had no longer any doubt. He knew that he
would win Robin, he knew that he would win Mary; up to that day he had
been uncertain, vacillating, miserable--but now he had no longer any
hesitation. The work of his life was to fit Robin for his due
succession, and, please God, he would do it with all his heart and soul
and strength; there was to be no false sentiment, no shifting of
difficult questions, no hiding from danger, no sheltering blindly under
unquestioned creeds, no false bids for popularity.

Robin was to be clean, straight, and sane, with all the sturdy
cleanliness and strength and sanity that his father's love and
knowledge could give him.

Oh! he loved his son!--but no longer blindly, as he had loved him three
weeks ago ... and so he faced his future.

And of Mary, too, he was sure. He knew that she loved him; he had seen
her face in the mirror as her lips had said "No," and he saw that her
heart had said "Yes." With the new strength that had come to him he
vowed to force her defences and carry her away.... Oh! he could be any
knight and fight for any lady.

But as he sat by the bed, watching the dawn struggle through the blinds
and listening to the faint, clear twittering of birds in the grey,
dew-swept garden--he wished that he could tell his father of his
engagement. He wondered if there would be time. That it would please
the old man he knew, and it would seal the compact, and place a secre