the night was very still. the soft breeze was not strong enough to stir even the slender palms which rose on all sides, and whose outlines, above the surrounding foliage, framed the starlit sky. the palace stood on high ground, and the garden sloped on the western side towards the sea. at the end of the terrace was a stone seat.

"let us sit here," said lucile.

they sat down. the dreamy music of a waltz floated down as a distant accompaniment to their thoughts. the windows of the palace blazed with light and suggested glitter, glare, and heat; in the garden all was quiet and cool.

"why do you sneer at honour?" asked lucile, thinking of the interrupted conversation.

"because it has no true foundation, no ultra-human sanction. its codes are constantly changing with times and places. at one time it is thought more honourable to kill the man you have wronged than to make amends; at another it is more important to pay a bookmaker than a butcher. like art it changes with human caprice, and like art it comes from opulence and luxury."

"but why do you claim a higher origin for beauty and honesty?"

"because, wherever i have looked, i see that all things are perpetually referred to an eternal standard of fitness, and that right triumphs over wrong, truth over falsehood, beauty over ugliness. fitness is the general expression! judged by this standard art and honour have little value."

"but are these things so?" she asked wonderingly. "surely there are many exceptions?"

"nature never considers the individual; she only looks at the average fitness of the species. consider the statistics of mortality. how exact they are: they give to a month the expectation of life to men; and yet they tell a man nothing. we cannot say that a good man will always overcome a knave; but the evolutionist will not hesitate to affirm that the nation with the highest ideals would succeed."

"unless," said lucile, "some other nation with lower ideals, but stronger arms, intervenes."

"well, even then might is a form of fitness; i think a low form, but still physical force contains the elements of human progress. this is only the instance; we must enlarge our view. nature does not consider the individual species. all we will now assert is that organisms imbued with moral fitness would ultimately rise above those whose virtue is physical. how many times has civilisation, by which i mean a state of society where moral force begins to escape from the tyranny of physical forces, climbed the ladder of progress and been dragged down? perhaps many hundred times in this world alone. but the motive power, the upward tendency, was constant. evolution does not say 'always,' but 'ultimately.' well, ultimately civilisation has climbed up beyond the reach of barbarism. the higher ideals have reached the surface by superior buoyancy."

"why do you assume that this triumph is permanent? how do you know that it will not be reversed, as all others have been?"

"because we have got might on our side, as well as moral ascendancy."

"perhaps the romans in the summit of their power thought that too?"

"very likely, but without reason. they had only their swords to fall back upon as an ultimate appeal; and when they became effete they could no longer wield them."

"and modern civilisation?"

"ah, we have other weapons. when we have degenerated, as we must eventually degenerate, when we have lost our intrinsic superiority, and other races, according to the natural law, advance to take our place, we shall fall back upon these weapons. our morals will be gone, but our maxims will remain. the effete and trembling european will sweep from the earth by scientific machinery the valiant savages who assail him."

"is that the triumph of moral superiority?"

"at first it would be, for the virtues of civilisation are of a higher type than those of barbarism. kindness is better than courage, and charity more than strength. but ultimately the dominant race will degenerate, and as there will be none to take its place, the degeneration must continue. it is the old struggle between vitality and decay, between energy and indolence; a struggle that always ends in silence. after all, we could not expect human developement to be constant. it is only a question of time before the planet becomes unfitted to support life on its surface."

"but you said that fitness must ultimately triumph."

"over relative unfitness, yes. but decay will involve all, victors and vanquished. the fire of life will die out, the spirit of vitality become extinct."

"in this world perhaps."

"in every world. all the universe is cooling—dying, that is,—and as it cools, life for a spell becomes possible on the surface of its spheres, and plays strange antics. and then the end comes; the universe dies and is sepulchred in the cold darkness of ultimate negation."

"to what purpose then are all our efforts?"

"god knows," said savrola cynically; "but i can imagine that the drama would not be an uninteresting one to watch."

"and yet you believe in an ultra-human foundation, an eternal ideal for such things as beauty and virtue."

"i believe that the superiority of fitness over relative unfitness is one of the great laws of matter. i include all kinds of fitness,—moral, physical, mathematical."

"mathematical!"

"certainly; words only exist by conforming to correct mathematical principles. that is one of the great proofs we have that mathematics have been discovered, not invented. the planets observe a regular progression in their distances from the sun. evolution suggests that those that did not observe such principles were destroyed by collisions and amalgamated with others. it is a universal survival of the fittest." she was silent. he continued: "now let us say that in the beginning there existed two factors, matter animated by the will to live, and the eternal ideal; the great author and the great critic. it is to the interplay and counter-action of these two that all developement, that all forms of life are due. the more the expression of the will to live approximates to the eternal standard of fitness, the better it succeeds."

"i would add a third," she said; "a great being to instil into all forms of life the desire to attain to the ideal; to teach them in what ways they may succeed."

"it is pleasant," he replied, "to think that such a being exists to approve our victories, to cheer our struggles, and to light our way; but it is not scientifically or logically necessary to assume one after the two factors i have spoken of are once at work."

"surely the knowledge that such an ultra-human ideal existed must have been given from without."

"no; that instinct which we call conscience was derived as all other knowledge from experience."

"how could it be?"

"i think of it in this way. when the human race was emerging from the darkness of its origin and half animal, half human creatures trod the earth, there was no idea of justice, honesty, or virtue, only the motive power which we may call the 'will to live.' then perhaps it was a minor peculiarity of some of these early ancestors of man to combine in twos and threes for their mutual protection. the first alliance was made; the combinations prospered where the isolated individuals failed. the faculty of combination appeared to be an element of fitness. by natural selection only the combinations survived. thus man became a social animal. gradually the little societies became larger ones. from families to tribes, and from tribes to nations the species advanced, always finding that the better they combined, the better they succeeded. now on what did this system of alliance depend? it depended on the members keeping faith with each other, on the practice of honesty, justice, and the rest of the virtues. only those beings in whom such faculties were present were able to combine, and thus only the relatively honest men were preserved. the process repeated itself countless times during untold ages. at every step the race advanced, and at every step the realisation of the cause increased. honesty and justice are bound up in our compositions and form an inseparable part of our natures. it is only with difficulty that we repress such awkward inclinations."

"you do not then believe in god?"

"i never said that," said savrola. "i am only discussing the question of our existence from one standpoint, that of reason. there are many who think that reason and faith, science and religion, must be everlastingly separated, and that if one be admitted the other must be denied. perhaps it is because we see so short a span, that we think that their lines are parallel and never touch each other. i always cherish the hope that somewhere in the perspective of the future there may be a vanishing point where all lines of human aspiration will ultimately meet."

"and you believe all this that you have said?"

"no," he answered, "there is no faith in disbelief, whatever the poets have said. before we can solve the problems of existence we must establish the fact that we exist at all. it is a strange riddle, is it not?"

"we shall learn the answer when we die."

"if i thought that," said savrola, "i should kill myself to-night out of irresistible curiosity."

he paused, and looked up at the stars, which shone so brightly overhead. she followed his gaze. "you like the stars?" she asked.

"i love them," he replied; "they are very beautiful."

"perhaps your fate is written there."

"i have always admired the audacity of man in thinking that a supreme power should placard the skies with the details of his squalid future, and that his marriage, his misfortunes, and his crimes should be written in letters of suns on the background of limitless space. we are consequential atoms."

"you think we are of no importance?"

"life is very cheap. nature has no exaggerated idea of its value. i realise my own insignificance, but i am a philosophic microbe, and it rather adds to my amusement than otherwise. insignificant or not, i like living, it is good to think of the future."

"ah," said lucile impetuously, "whither are you hurrying us in the future,—to revolution?"

"perhaps," said savrola calmly.

"you are prepared to plunge the country in a civil war?"

"well, i hope it will not come to that extreme. probably there will be some street-fighting and some people will be killed, but——"

"but why should you drive them like this?"

"i discharge a duty to the human species in breaking down a military despotism. i do not like to see a government supported only by bayonets; it is an anachronism."

"the government is just and firm; it maintains law and order. why should you assail it merely because it does not harmonise with your theories?"

"my theories!" said savrola. "is that the name you give to the lines of soldiers with loaded rifles that guard this palace, or to the lancers i saw spearing the people in the square a week ago?"

his voice had grown strangely vehement and his manner thrilled her. "you will ruin us," she said weakly.

"no," he replied with his grand air, "you can never be ruined. your brilliancy and beauty will always make you the luckiest of women, and your husband the luckiest of men."

his great soul was above the suspicion of presumption. she looked up at him, smiled quickly, and impulsively held out her hand. "we are on opposite sides, but we will fight under the rules of war. i hope we shall remain friends even though——"

"we are officially enemies," said savrola, completing the sentence, and taking her hand in his he bowed and kissed it. after that they were both very silent, and walking along the terrace re-entered the palace. most of the guests had already gone, and savrola did not ascend the stairs, but passing through the swing-doors took his departure. lucile walked up to the ball-room in which a few youthful and indefatigable couples were still circling. molara met her. "my dear," he said, "where have you been all this time?"

"in the garden," she replied.

"with savrola?"

"yes."

the president repressed a feeling of satisfaction. "did he tell you anything?" he asked.

"nothing," she answered, remembering for the first time the object with which she had sought the interview; "i must see him again."

"you will continue to try and find out his political intentions?" inquired molara anxiously.

"i shall see him again," she replied.

"i trust to your wit," said the president; "you can do it, if anyone can, my dearest."

the last dance came to an end and the last guest departed. very weary and thoughtful lucile retired to her room. her conversation with savrola filled her mind; his earnestness, his enthusiasm, his hopes, his beliefs, or, rather, his disbeliefs, all passed again in review before her. what a great man he was! was it wonderful the people followed him? she would like to hear him speak to-morrow.

her maid came in to assist her to undress. she had looked from an upper balcony and had seen savrola. "was that," she asked her mistress curiously, "the great agitator?" her brother was going to hear him make his speech to-morrow.

"is he going to make a speech to-morrow?" asked lucile.

"so my brother says," said the maid; "he says that he is going to give them such a dressing down they will never forget it." the maid paid great attention to her brother's words. there was much sympathy between them; in fact she only called him her brother because it sounded better.

lucile took up the evening paper which lay on the bed. there on the first page was the announcement, the great meeting would take place at the city-hall at eight the next evening. she dismissed the maid and walked to the window. the silent city lay before her; to-morrow the man she had talked with would convulse that city with excitement. she would go and hear him; women went to these meetings; why should she not go, closely veiled? after all it would enable her to learn something of his character and she could thus better assist her husband. with this reflection, which was extremely comforting, she went to bed.

the president was going up-stairs, when miguel met him. "more business?" he asked wearily.

"no," said the secretary; "things are going on very well."

molara looked at him with quick annoyance; but miguel's face remained impassive, so he simply replied, "i am glad of that," and passed on.