Gordon saw it was useless to avoid the heart of the difficulty. So with all the earnestness and eloquence he could command he told his father the history of Kate Ransom's work in the church, the growth of their love, the drifting apart from Ruth, and the final dramatic climax of the day that she gave the money to build the Temple. The old man with fine courtesy listened attentively, now and then brushing away a tear, and sighing. "And so, father," he concluded, "a divorce is the only possible end of it all." "And what has Ruth to say?" he asked, pathetically. "She has accepted the situation, and at my request will bring the suit." "And you will marry this other woman while Ruth lives?" "Yes, father, and our union will be a prophecy of a redeemed society in which love, fellowship, Comradeship and brotherhood shall become the laws of life." The old man's brow wrinkled in pain. "But the family at which you aim this blow, my son, is the basis of all law, state, national, and international. It is the unit of society, the basis of civilisation itself. To destroy it is to return to the beast of the field." "It must be modified in the evolution of human freedom, father." "But, my son, it is the law of the Lord, and the law of the Lord is perfect!" the old man cried, with his voice quivering with anguish and yet in it the triumphant ring of the prophet and seer. "Yes, father, your view of the law," the younger man quietly answered. "My boy, since man has written the story of his life, saint and seer, statesman and chieftain, philosopher and poet have all agreed on this. There can be nothing more certain than that my view is true." "Just as men have agreed on delusions and traditions in theology, but you now see as clearly as I how foolish many of these things are." "But, my son, new theology or old theology, Bible or no Bible, Heaven or no Heaven, Hell or no Hell, God or no God, it is right to do right!" Again his high nervous voice rang like a silver trumpet. "I am trying to do right." "Yet greater wrong than this can no man do on earth--lead, captivate the soul and body of a gracious and innocent girl, teach her the miracle of love in motherhood, and then desert her for a fairer and younger face." "But, father, I cannot live a lie." "Then you will cherish, honour, love and protect your wife until death; and the old marriage ceremony read, 'until death us depart.' Your vow is eternal and goes beyond the physical incident of death itself." "Yet how can I control the beat of my heart? We must go back to the reality of Nature and her eternal laws, in spite of illusions and theories," maintained the younger man.