“It seems that at present there are certain things which are still forbidden to science. A year ago I was fully convinced that such was not the case. But that view was premature. At that time the whole question raised by Murdwell’s Law was still sub judice. The verdict has now been given. I have a cancer, which must kill me long before I am able to complete my researches. And I think you, sir, and all who see the cosmos at your particular angle are fully entitled to regard this as the act of God.”
The vicar remained silent, but with an intense and painful interest he followed the revelations of the dying man.
“Thus far shalt thou go and no farther! The power, or the group of powers, which controls the development of mankind, whispered those words to me a year ago. But I chose to disregard them. I was too deeply committed to my studies, which, had I been allowed to pursue them to their logical conclusion, would have revolutionized war and everything else on this planet. There is no need to make a secret of the fact that, by the operation of Murdwell’s Law, I have been able to trace the existence of an element hitherto unknown. It has been given the name of vitalium, and my hope, and the hope of the distinguished men of science associated with me, was that its bearing on present events would be decisive. I still hold the theory that this element contains powers and properties compared with which all others in the purview of man are insignificant. For instance, I said that it was within the competence of vitalium to destroy an enemy fleet at a distance of twenty thousand miles. But as I was warned at the time the prophecy was made, and as I know beyond all question now, I am not to be allowed to prove my proposition.
“Prometheus is not to be allowed to steal the fire from heaven. And well it is for mankind that some things are still forbidden to it. Whether that will always be the case I dare not prophesy. But at this moment I have no doubt that Gazelee Payne Murdwell is the writing on the wall for the human race. Put that on my tombstone in your Sussex churchyard.”
The vicar was strangely moved.
“Another theory I have formed, which I am not to be allowed to prove, is that with the aid of vitalium it is possible to communicate with other planets. There is little doubt that some of them do communicate with one another, and I am inclined to think that the terrible crisis the world is now passing through is a reaction to events in other places. Man is only at the threshold of the knowable. He is surrounded by many forces of which he knows little or nothing. Some of these are inimical. The future has terrible problems for the human race, and well it is that it cannot foresee them.
“As for this terrible struggle, in which I am proud to think my two boys are bearing a part, the end is not yet in sight. The resources of the enemy exceed all computation, and we don’t know what forces hostile to man stand behind them.”
“It may be so, Mr. Murdwell.” The vicar, greatly wrought upon, spoke in a voice of deep emotion. “We are in the hands of God. And I am convinced that He is fighting for us, and therefore in the end our cause must prevail.”
The man of science smiled wanly. “I cannot form a conception of God in terms of atomic energy. And yet I feel with you, as I have always felt, that there is a Friend behind phenomena. And I am inclined to believe, now that we have a mass of evidence to guide us, that the first phase of this war proved that very clearly. The victory of the Marne was a signal manifestation. By all the rules of the game, at the moment the enemy of mankind fell on Europe in her sleep, France was irretrievably lost, and civilization with her. But something happened which was not in the textbooks. And in the perpetual recurrence of that Something lies the one hope for the human race.”
“Well, Mr. Murdwell”—the vicar spoke very earnestly—“as a humble servant and minister of God, I can only say that I share your belief. Whatever may happen to us, I feel that the human race could not have got as far as it has, unless a special providence had always stood behind it. My faith is, that this providence will not be withdrawn in the world’s darkest hour.”