n
ideas--about the man William Dale.

It was at the period of his conversion or repentance or baptism, and
they were speaking to each other of Their Beloved Son and His newest
recruit. And God the Father seemed to say that He would hope for the
best--although, as they Both knew, Christ was too easily imposed on.
And God the Holy Ghost pursed His lips, and shook His head, and said,
"Take it from Me, this fellow Dale will turn out badly"--seeming to
add or explain that it was a mere pretense and no true repentance. "He
has _never_ repented of his crime. But of course he is anxious about
his future, and would try any trick to escape the punishment he has
richly deserved."

All this was terribly real to him, and he imagined the dread scene
more strongly every moment. Those Two went on debating his
case--becoming now so solidly presented to his imagination that he
could see Them, the purple color of Their robes, the halo of light as
in a painted window, Their forms, Their faces. God the Father was not
unlike old Mr. Bates, except that He had a long beard and that there
mingled with the candid dignity of His expression a consciousness of
sovereign power. The Holy Ghost was clean-shaven, very thin, with
sharp clearly-cut features as of somebody who does not enjoy robust
health, and with a slight but painful suggestion of a Roman Catholic
priest who habitually goes deep into private secrets and is never
really satisfied until he has extracted the fullest possible
confessions. He was the One that Dale had never so much cared
about--the _difficult_ member of the firm, the sleeping partner who
never really slept, who professed to keep himself in the background,
but who quietly asserted himself in important moments and proved
infinitely the hardest of the Three.

And so it had been in this case. Since time is nothing, and then and
now are all one, Dale imagined that while his Judges talked of him in
Heaven his whole earthly career had flashed onward to its end; so that
he and all that concerned him was disposed of at one continuous
sitting. Thus, without a pause, the Holy Ghost was already saying,
"You see I was right in my first view of the affair. Dale is
disgracing himself again. Now You and I must not allow any further
communication between Our dear Son and such an impostor."

Then Christ pleaded for him, prayed for mercy. Christ, although
invisible, was certainly there, imploring mercy for the man he had
trusted and love