“Yes,” he said, “free will is no doubt real to the bold and desperate spirit. To all others it is in effect unreal. To make it in effect real to all, every free being ought to be able to do as he will, not only without let or hindrance, but also without what you I suppose would call penal consequences.” “It seems to me,” I said, “that our little world is too limited for such freedom as you desire. We should speedily come into collision with each other if there were no limit of any sort to our freedom.” “Yes, if your world were the only world.” I did not notice at the time his use of the pronoun “your” for “our.” I only replied, “If our world were multiplied a hundred thousand fold, and I can well believe that there may be a hundred thousand such worlds, still the limits of habitable space must ultimately be a limit to freedom so that it cannot be unconditional.” “There are no limits,” he said, “to habitable space.” I began to think that he was a very clever madman, and I said nothing. “For such as you,” he continued, “the limit exists, but not for me, nor for such as I.” Now I was sure he was mad, and I still kept silence. “Nor yet for you,” he added, “either, if you have courage enough to overleap the limit.” Now I began to be afraid that the form of mania which affected him was homicidal, and that he would presently require me, as he said, “to overleap the limit.” But he rose to his feet with such a collected air, and looked so full of proud intellect and power that I began to change my mind and to think that I was going mad myself. He spoke again, stretching out his hand, “Space is unlimited, and wherever space is there is a dwelling-place for me. This form in which I live here is but my dress, which I assume when I come to live among you. I can put it off and live in space, I can put it on again and come back to you. See here!” Both his hands were now stretched upward, and his eyes were fixed on me with a domineering gaze, and mine on him with a mixture of wonder and of dread. Then he looked away straight out into the southern sky.