Receiving no answer, he laughed merrily, and, plunging forward, swam seaward against the sun-dazzle. His two companions watched him with shining eyes. "Truly, he is very fair to look upon," said the Soul. "Yes," added the Will, "and perhaps he has chosen the better part elsewhere as here." "Can it be the better part to prefer the things of the moment of those of Eternity?" "What is Eternity?" For a few seconds the Soul was silent. It was not easy for him to understand that what was a near horizon to him was a vague vista, possibly a mirage, to another. He was ever, in himself, moving just the hither side of the narrow mortal horizon which Eternity swims in upon from behind and beyond. The Will looked at him questioningly, then spoke again: "You speak of the things of Eternity. What is Eternity?" "Eternity is the Breath of God." "That tells me nothing." "It is Time, freed from his Mortality." "Again, that tells me little. Or, rather, I am no wiser. What is Eternity to _us_?" "It is our perpetuity." "Then is it only a warrant against Death?" "No, it is more. Time is our sphere: Eternity is our home." "There is no other lesson for you in the worm, and in the dust?" "What do you mean, brother?" "Does dissolution mean nothing to you?" "What is dissolution?" It was now the Will who stared with wondering eyes. To him that question was as disquieting as that which he had asked the Soul. It was a minute before he spoke again. "You ask me what is dissolution? Do you not understand what death means to _me_?" "Why to you more than to me, or to the Body?" "What is it to you?" "A change from a dream of Beauty, to Beauty." "And at the worst?" "Freedom: escape from narrow walls--often dark and foul." "In any case nothing but a change, a swift and absolute change, from what was to what is?" "Even so." "And you have no fear?" "None. Why should I?" "Why should you not?" Again there was a sudden silence between the two. At last the Soul spoke: "Why should I not? I cannot tell you. But I have no fear. I am a Son of God." "And we?" "Ah, yes, dear brother: you, too, and the Body." "But we perish!" "There is the resurrection of the Body." "Where--when?" "As it is written. In God's hour." "Is the worm also the Son of God?" The soul stared downward into the green water, but did not answer. A look of strange trouble was in his eyes. "Is not the Grave on the hither side of Eternity?" Still no answer. "Does God whisper beneath the Tomb?" At this the Soul rose, and moved restlessly to and fro. "Tell me," resumed the Will, "what is Dissolution?" "It is the returning into dust of that which was dust." "And what is dust?" "The formless: the inchoate: the mass out of which the Potter makes new vessels, or moulds new shapes." "But _you_ do not go into dust?" "I came from afar: afar I go again." "But we--we shall be formless: inchoate?" "You shall be upbuilded." "How?" The Soul turned, and again sat by his comrade.