out their gowns and harps, and dropped their hymn books and
stared up at us.

"It makes me sad yet when I think about it. I have roasted them and
flayed them and boiled them without mercy; all that was nothing like
seeing the disappointed expression in the eyes of those poor souls, all
arrayed in their new celestial gowns and with harps in hand, staring
like little lost children up at a dummy on the throne, and wailing
because their god was dead!"

"When did all this happen?" asked Gud.

"A long while ago--like you, I've been on a vacation. The fact was that
experience gave me a distaste for my profession. But you know how it is.
We are all creatures of habit, as you say, and there are ups and downs
in all business. I feel now that it is about time I got back to
work--especially since I discovered this virgin world. With that we can
start all over, everything new, all our experience to help us, and the
likelihood of good luck this time by the law of averages."

"Right you are," agreed Gud, "there is nothing like work. A shoemaker
should stick to his last and die with his hammer in his hand. Yes, I
think I will consider your proposition. Where is this property you speak
of?"

"In the eighth plane."

"The eighth plane!" repeated Gud incredulously. "My dear fellow, there
are only seven planes!"

"That's just it; it's being in a place where it could not be explains
why it is still there."

"A fascinating tale," said Gud dubiously, "but how can mortals stay
rational and civilized if they do not know that we exist, or that there
are immortal joys and torments awaiting for them after they are through
with their brief span of mortality?"

"Now I can't answer that question as to theory, but I can report my
observation of the fact that they manage it very decently well."

"It seems incredible to me," sighed Gud.

"It doesn't to me," replied the Devil, "for if I were mortal I would
surely make the best of the life I had instead of pining and worrying
about another, which, as you know for yourself, is never quite up to
mortal expectations."

The Devil knocked the ash out of the bowl of his pipe on one of the
glowing rocks. "Naturally we haven't as much interest as you have in
keeping the superstition alive, since we have the dirty end of the deal.
But you know very well that you can't do business without us. It has
been repeatedly demonstrated that mortals quickly lose interest in those
one-sided theologies which, l