Alistair bowed his head again, and scattered the cards from his hand. “And what is to become of me?” The mournful question deeply moved Sir Bernard. He was asking this young man to surrender the sweetest form of earthly happiness; what could he offer him in exchange? “Has science nothing else to say to me? You are a physician; if I am diseased, cannot you cure me?” Vanbrugh was disconcerted. “We are only groping our way as yet,” he answered mildly. “Remember that all knowledge was forbidden by the priesthood for a thousand years. We are only in the beginning of a better age.” “The age in which there will be no men like me!” Alistair commented. “And in the meantime science has no gospel for me.” “It is your father whom you have to blame,” Sir Bernard said reluctantly. Alistair trembled. “You mean that I ought not to have been born?” The physician was silent. “I am a waste product, for which science has no use. O, why not? You have found beautiful dyes in coal-tar; can you find nothing in me?” Vanbrugh was a father fighting for his child, a zealot fighting for his faith. But he was touched by this appeal. “I have not said that. I have only told you that you ought not to become a father. It is not your fault if you have received an evil inheritance, but it will be your fault if you pass it on.” Alistair hid his face in his hands for a time. “Be honest with me, Sir Bernard,” he said presently, in a husky voice, without lifting his head. “You are the priest of science, and I am in the confessional. You think I ought to commit suicide?” The scientist was profoundly moved. He held his breath for an instant, and his forehead grew damp. He found his resolution failing him. “No,” he said, in faltering tones--“no, don’t think that. I have told you science is still groping her way. I believe it would be happier for some of the poor victims of heredity--the hopelessly insane, the deaf and dumb, and perhaps the criminal and paralytic--if a painless death were provided for them. But a man with your gifts should find something worth living for.” Alistair looked at him earnestly.