ut
the children, and love, mightiest of the powers, stirred fiercely in her
heart.

The first man spoke to her.

"Woman," said he, "for what purpose do you go abroad on this night and
on this hill?"

"I travel, sir," said the Thin Woman, "searching for the Brugh of Angus
the son of the Dagda Mor."

"We are all children of the Great Father," said he. "Do you know who we
are?"

"I do not know that," said she.

"We are the Three Absolutes, the Three Redeemers, the three
Alembics--the Most Beautiful Man, the Strongest Man and the Ugliest Man.
In the midst of every strife we go unhurt. We count the slain and the
victors and pass on laughing, and to us in the eternal order come all
the peoples of the world to be regenerated for ever. Why have you called
to us?"

"I did not call to you, indeed," said the Thin Woman; "but why do you
sit in the path so that travellers to the House of the Dagda are halted
on their journey?"

"There are no paths closed to us," he replied; "even the gods seek us,
for they grow weary in their splendid desolation--saving Him who liveth
in all things and in us; Him we serve and before His awful front we
abase ourselves. You, O Woman, who are walking in the valleys of anger,
have called to us in your heart, therefore we are waiting for you on the
side of the hill. Choose now one of us to be your mate, and do not fear
to choose, for our kingdoms are equal and our powers are equal."

"Why would I choose one of you," replied the Thin Woman, "when I am well
married already to the best man in the world?"

"Beyond us there is no best man," said he, "for we are the best in
beauty, and the best in strength, and the best in ugliness; there is no
excellence which is not contained in us three. If you are married what
does that matter to us who are free from the pettiness of jealousy
and fear, being at one with ourselves and with every manifestation of
nature."

"If," she replied, "you are the Absolute and are above all pettiness,
can you not be superior to me also and let me pass quietly on my road to
the Dagda!"

"We are what all humanity desire," quoth he, "and we desire all
humanity. There is nothing, small or great, disdained by our immortal
appetites. It is not lawful, even for the Absolute, to outgrow Desire,
which is the breath of God quick in his creatures and not to be bounded
or surmounted by any perfection."

During this conversation the other great figures had leaned forward
listen