"Not at all. I said if it were possible for the body not to express the soul, if--but that's just the difficulty, it is not possible. The body manifests the soul. Supposing it were not so, the power of evil, the devil, if you choose to name it and imply a personal existence for it, might have hold of the world even more tightly than now. Just conceive, under such conditions, how you might lure Addison to destruction if you desired to do so. Looking at you, and seeing the same face in which he has learned to see what he thinks entire goodness, he would be unable to believe that any action you could suggest and take part in could be evil. You could wreck his future with a perfect ease. But, as things are, did your nature change and become malignant, your face would change too, and you might quickly cease to exercise a strong influence over Addison. He might even, having now been unconsciously trained into a curious integrity, learn to hate and to despise you. You remember our conversation to-night about that symphony?" "Yes." "I said that the soul which could reproduce hell should be able to reproduce heaven." "I know." "Well, my boy--for you are a boy to me--the reverse of that might happen also." "Perhaps. But I don't quite see." "The application--to you?" "To me?" "Yes, to you, Cresswell. You have been given a strangely perfect nature. As you say, you seem to have nothing to do with the matter. You have even been inclined to rebel against your gift. But, take my advice. Cherish it. Don't play with it, as you have been playing. Remember, if you lose heaven, the space once filled by heaven will not be left empty." "Ah! now I see. You think that I--" "Might swing from a great height to an equally great depth. That has been my experience--that the man who is once extreme is always extreme, but not always in the same way. The greatest libertines have made the greatest ascetics. But, within my own experience, I have known the reverse process to obtain. And you, if you changed, might carry Addison with you." "But then, doctor, you do believe in these manifestations?" "Not necessarily. But I believe that the minds of men are often very carefully, very deftly, poised, and that a little push can send them one way or the other. Have you ever balanced one billiard-ball on the top of another?" "Yes." "Then you know that a breath will upset it and send it rolling. Be careful. Your mind, your very nature, may be poised like that billiard-ball. Addison's may be the same. Indeed, I feel sure Addison's is. That curious dread of you which overcame him at your last sitting is a sign of it. The whole thing is wrong--bad for body and for mind." "Perhaps. Well, we have definitely agreed to give it up." "That's well. Eleven o'clock! I must be going. Are you doing anything to-morrow night?" "No." "I have got a box for this new play at the Duke's Theatre. Will you come?" "With pleasure." "I will ask Addison also."