He must not speculate further about her though, he must keep his nerve. And his own life--what would it now become? Would the spirit of freedom, stirring in his beloved country, arrive at any good? Or would the red current of revolution, once let loose, swamp all reason and flow in rivers of blood? He would be powerless to help if he let weakness overmaster him now. The immediate picture looked black and hopeless to his far-seeing eyes. But his place must be in Petrograd now, until the end. His activities, which had obliged him to be away from Russia, were finished, and new ones had begun which he must direct, there in the heart of things. "The world is aching for freedom, God," his stormy thoughts ran, "but we cannot hope to receive it until we have paid the price of the aeons of greed and self-seeking which have held us, the ignorance, the low material gain. We must now reap that sowing. The divine Christ--one man--was enough as a sacrifice in that old period of the world's day--but now there must be a holocaust of the bravest and best for our purification." He threw himself into his chair and gazed into the glowing embers. What pictures were forming themselves there? Nations arising glorified by a new religion of common sense, education universally enjoyed, the great forces studied, and Nature's fundamental principles reckoned with and understood. To hunt his food. To recreate his species. _And to kill his enemy._ A bright blade sheathed but ready, a clear judgment trained and used, ideals nobly striven for, and Wisdom the High Priest of God. These were the visions he saw in the fire, and he started to his feet and stretched out his arms. "Strength, God! Strength!" that was his prayer. "That we may go-- Armoured and militant, New-pithed, new-souled, new-visioned, up the steeps To those great altitudes whereat the weak Live not, but only the strong Have leave to strive, and suffer, and achieve." Then he sat down and wrote to Denzil. "I have all the needed proofs, my friend. Marry my soul's lady in peace and make her happy. There come some phases in a man's life which require all his will to face. I hope I am no weakling. I return to Russia immediately. Events there will enable me to blot out some disturbing memories. "The end is not yet. Indeed, I feel that my real life is only just beginning.