“That is not my recollection of the exact position I took up. In any case, I withdraw from it now. Second thoughts convince me that you mean to destroy a very exquisite thing. I am further convinced that as the world is constituted at present you can work your will, if not in one way, in another. History shows that. But it also shows that you will only be successful up to a point. Immure the body of John Smith if you must. Kill his soul if you can. In the meantime go your ways and leave me to abide the issue.” The vicar was distressed by this sudden flaming. He apologized with Christian humility for having worried one in a delicate state of health with a matter which, after all, did not concern him. Soothing the dear, excitable fellow as well as he could, he prepared to withdraw from the room. But Brandon was not in a mood to let this be the end of the matter. “Before you go,” he said, “I would like to speak of something else. It has a bearing on the subject we have been discussing.” Although conscience-bitten by the sudden recollection of his promise to Millicent, the vicar allowed himself to be further detained. “I have just had a visit from the new tenant of Longwood.” “Yes, I met him in the avenue as I came here. He has very simply invited me to dine with him on Wednesday.” “Be sure you do. A very remarkable man. We had a most interesting talk.” “A great scientist, I hear.” “One of the forces of the material world. A modern Newton, the discoverer of Murdwell’s Law.” “Tell me, what is Murdwell’s Law exactly?” “At present it can only be rendered in terms of the highest mathematics, which I’m afraid is beyond a layman’s power. But Murdwell himself has just told me that he expects soon to be able to reduce it to a physical formula.” “And if he does?” “It will be the worst day this planet has known. For one thing it will revolutionize warfare completely. Radioactivity will take the place of high explosives. It may become possible to wipe out a city like London in less than a minute. It may become possible to banish forever organic life from a whole continent.” “But surely that will be to abrogate the functions of the Creator.” “Quite so. And science tells us that Man is his own Creator, and that he has been millions of years in business. And now this simple, gentle, peace-loving American of the Middle West comes along with the information that, Man having reached the phase in which he bends the whole force of his genius to destroy his own work, successes of that kind are open to him beyond the dreams of his wildest nightmares. As the learned professor said to me just now: ‘Any fool can destroy. We are near the point where it will be possible for the infant puling in the arms of its nurse to press a button and punch a hole through the planet!’” “No doubt he exaggerates.”