tant.

Yes, he wrote in answer; he would certainly keep the appointment
suggested.

He dined out at a restaurant, returned to his rooms, and sat down to
arrange his ideas.

* * * * *

These, to be frank, were not very many, nor very profound.

He had already, in the days that had passed since his shock, no
lighter because expected, when he had learned from Maggie that the
test was fulfilled, and that a fact known to no one present, not even
himself, in Queen's Gate, had been communicated through his
lips--since that time the idea had become familiar that the veil
between this world and the next was a very thin one. After all, a
large number of persons in the world believe that, as it is; and they
are not, in consequence, in a continuous state of exaltation. Laurie
had learned this, he thought, experimentally. Very well, then, that
was so; there was no more to be said.

Next, the excitement of the thought of communicating with Amy in
particular had to a large extent burned itself out. It was nearly four
months since her death; and in his very heart of hearts he was
beginning to be aware that she had not been so entirely his twin-soul
as he would still have maintained. He had reflected a little, in the
meantime, upon the grocer's shop, the dissenting tea-parties, the odor
of cheeses. Certainly these things could not destroy an "affinity" if
the affinity were robust; but it would need to be....

He was still very tender towards the thought of her; she had gained
too, inevitably, by dying, a dignity she had lacked while living, and
it might well be that intercourse with her in the manner proposed
would be an extraordinarily sweet experience. But he was no longer
excited--passionately and overwhelmingly--by the prospect. It would be
delightful? Yes. But....

* * * * *

Then Laurie began to look at his religion, and at that view he stopped
dead. He had no ideas at all on the subject; he had not a notion where
he stood. All he knew was that it had become uninteresting. True? Oh,
yes, he supposed so. He retained it still as many retain faith in the
supernatural--a reserve that could be drawn upon in extremities.

He had not yet missed hearing Mass on Sunday; in fact, he proposed to
go even next Sunday. "A man must have a religion," he said to himself;
and, intellectually, there was at present no other possible religion
for him except the Catholic. Yet as