"Yes, dear, love. Love for him. All courage has its root in love of some kind."
"Alva, you teach me more each day."
"Yes, and I'll teach you more and more and more yet, and so on and so on until we part, and then I'll go on learning myself."
"Hasn't your lesson any end?"
"Love hasn't any end, dear, any more than it has any beginning. And so my lesson hasn't any end, either."
"But—"
"I know what you are going to say, but that isn't real love. That which can end has never been,—all the real things in existence are eternal."
"But they—the people that—well, you know, they thought that it was love—didn't they?"
"Yes, dear, and little children think that there are bears in dark closets, and ever so many people think that money buys happiness. The world is full of lies, Lassie, but if one puts the test to them they all fade away. You don't understand yet—but wait."
"I want to understand."