"That's what I want to know," I said "We seem to be coming perilously near to Dennis's position, that what we call Evil is mere appearance."
"Well," said Ellis, "extremes meet! Dennis arrived at his view by a denial of the world; I arrive at mine by an affirmation of it."
"But do you really think," I urged, "that everything in the world is good?"
"I think," he replied, "that everything may be made to minister to Good if you approach it in the proper way."
"That reads," said Audubon, "like an extract from a sermon."
"As I remarked before," replied Ellis, "extremes meet"
"But, Ellis," I protested, "do explain! How are you going to answer Leslie?"
"Leslie is really too young," he replied, "to be answerable at all. But if you insist on my being serious, what I meant to suggest is, that when our activity is freshest and keenest we find delight in what is called Evil no less than in what is called Good. The complexity of the world charms us, its 'downs' as well as its 'ups,' its abysses and glooms no less than its sunny levels. We would not alter it if we could; it is better than we could make it; and we accept it not merely with acquiescence but with triumph."
"Oh, do we!" said Audubon.
"We," answered Ellis, "not you! You, of course, do not accept anything."