“_You_ gave me the first clue!” he said, addressing it. “You were a fluke--a chance--a stray hint from the unseen. And you will go on for ever if nothing disturbs your balance--if nothing shakes your exact mathematical poise. So will the Universe similarly go on for ever, if similarly undisturbed. All a matter of calculation, equality of distribution and exact poise--designed by a faultless Intelligence! An Intelligence which we are prone to deny--a Divinity we dare to doubt! Man perplexes himself with a million forms of dogma which he calls ‘religions,’ when there is truly only one religion possible for all the world, and that is the intelligent, reasoning, devout worship of the true God as made manifest in His works. These works none but the few will study, preferring to delude themselves with the fantastic spectres of their own imaginations. Yet, when we _have_ learned what in time we must know,--the words of the Evangelist may be fulfilled: ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth and the first heaven were passed away.... And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.’ So we may have a joyous world, where youth and life are eternal, and where never a heart-throb of passion or grief breaks the halcyon calm! Shall we care for it, I wonder? Will it not prove monotonous?--and when all is smooth sailing, shall we not long for a storm?” A quick sigh escaped him,--then remembering Vasho’s presence, he shook off his temporary abstraction. “Come, Vasho!” he said, “I must go and find this marvel of my science--living or dead! And don’t look so terrified!--one would think _you_ were the victim! Whatever happens, _you_ are safe!” Vasho made expressive signs of apologetic humility and appeal, to which Dimitrius gave no response save an indulgent smile. “Come!” he repeated. They left the library, Dimitrius leading the way, and walked through the long corridor to the door of the laboratory. Gleams of gold and silver shone from the mysterious substance of which it was composed, and curious iridescent rays flashed suddenly across their eyes as if part of it had become transparent. “The sun’s flames have had power here,” remarked Dimitrius. “Almost they have pierced the metal.”