He went down the great steps alone, and I felt as if I wanted the
steps swept and cleaned. I followed later, and as I went to find my
hat in the low, dark passage where it hung, I suddenly heard his
voice again, but the words were inaudible. I stopped, startled; but
then I heard the voice of one of the vilest of his associates saying,
"Nobody can possibly know." And then I heard those two or three words
which I remember in every syllable and cannot forget. I heard the
Diabolist say, "I tell you I have done everything else. If I do that
I shan't know the difference between right and wrong." I rushed out
without daring to pause; and as I passed the fire I did not know
whether it was hell or the furious love of God.

I have since heard that he died; it may be said, I think, that he
committed suicide; though he did it with tools of pleasure, not with
tools of pain. God help him, I know the road he went; but I have
never known or even dared to think what was that place at which he
stopped and refrained.*

[* Quoted in _G. K. Chesterton: A Criticism_. Alston Rivers Ltd. 1908,
pp. 20-22.]

Revulsion from the atmosphere of evil took Gilbert to no new thing
but to a strengthening of old ties and a mystic renewal of them. The
J.D.C. was idealised into a mystical city of friends:

A LIST

I know a friend, very strong and good. He is the best friend in the
world,

I know another friend, subtle and sensitive. He is certainly the best
friend on earth.

I know another friend: very quiet and shrewd, there is no friend so
good as he.

I know another friend, who is enigmatical and reluctant, he is the
best of all.

I know yet another: who is polished and eager, he is far better
than the rest.

I know another, who is young and very quick, he is the most beloved
of all friends,

I know a lot more and they are all like that.

Amen.

THE COSMIC FACTORIES

What are little boys made of?

Bentley is made of hard wood with a knot in it, a complete set of
Browning and a strong spring;

Oldershaw of a box of Lucifer matches and a stylographic pen;

Lawrence of a barrister's wig: files of Punch and salt,

Maurice of watch-wheels, three riders and a clean collar.

Vernede is made of moonlight and tobacco,

Bertram is mostly a handsome black walking-stick.

Waldo is a nice cabbage, with a vanishing odo