‘Stop!’ cried Cyril. ‘Were this world the end of our life the differences in the fortunes of mankind might imply injustice in the Ruler of this world; but the balance is to be struck elsewhere--the day of reckoning is to come, when each man shall reap the reward of his works, whether they be good or evil.’ ‘Am I to take your word for all that?’ asked Emmanuel, his projecting eyes shining with a fierce light. ‘You are like the rest of them. One after another they have come to me--Church of England, Wesleyans, Baptists, Ranters--all with the same dogmatic assertions. My own senses tell me that this world teems with suffering and wrong. Am I to take the other story on hearsay?’ ‘Have you not seen something more than suffering and wrong?’ argued Cyril ‘Have you not seen that even in this brief mortal life--which true believers regard as but a troubled passage to eternal peace--have you not seen that even here men reap as they have sown? To the sober man health and tranquillity; to the drunkard disease and early death. To the honest man the world’s respect; to the reprobate the bitter cup of shame. This little room we sit in bears the evidence of your sober, industrious life. Where is the injustice here? Now and then we see a good man struggling with calamity--tried as Job was tried--chastened as David was chastened--but his struggles are an education for heaven; and could we but see rightly we might regard him as a chosen servant of God.’ ‘And what of your hospitals for incurables, filled with beings created only to suffer?’ ‘You have never visited one of those hospitals, or you would know that among those sufferers there are many whom heaven has gifted with a patience that makes life almost happy, and a faith that fills even their hours of pain with hope.’ ‘Dreamers and enthusiasts all,’ said Emmanuel. ‘Amongst them are some who have talents that make life interesting--or even genius that lifts them up above the common earth and creates for them a world of their own. We cannot measure our fellow-men’s misery or happiness, any more than we can measure the goodness and justice of God. Some of the most unhappy of men are those to whom fortune has given all good things.’ ‘What do you deduce from this?’ ‘That if we could know the hearts and minds of all men as God knows them we should not accuse our Maker of injustice. He has given us the highest of all gifts, understanding and free will. It is for us to work out our redemption with these.’ ‘You believe in free will?’ asked Emmanuel. ‘As I believe in God’s justice.’ ‘My father was a Calvinist. He believed himself one of the elect, and his fellow-men, mostly, outside the pale.’