"Love and friendship, of course, are proofs not only of immortality, but of pre-existence and the survival of the individual."
"And can you make the disciples of the clap-trap which passes for religion believe this, Mr. Mario?"
"I propose to try. But the task is hard. There are pieces difficult to fit into the scheme."
"You agree with me that the war, which was born of ignorance, will bear the fruit of truth?"
"I agree that it will bear the fruit of truth, but I do not agree that it was born of ignorance. Men did not cause the war. It is a visitation from higher powers, and therefore has a grand purpose. There are no accidents in the scheme of the universe."
"You think those higher powers are powers of good?"
"Wherever the powers of darkness walk the Powers of Light stand arrayed before them."
There was a muffled crash in the adjoining room, which brought Paul, startled, to his feet. He crossed the library and entered the panelled dining-room. The portrait of Sir Jacques had fallen from its place above the mantelpiece, breaking a number of ornaments as it fell. Davison was already on the spot and stood surveying the wreckage.
"The 'eat of the extraordinary fire, no doubt, sir," he said. "The 'ook is loosened, as you observe."
Paul stared at the man with unseeing eyes; he was striving to grasp the symbolic significance of the incident, but it eluded him, and presently he returned to the library, where Jules Thessaly was glancing at a book which he had taken from a shelf apparently at random.