at that time, that I was standing firmly on my own feet,

"What do you feel?" Gangnet still held his arm.

"I have set myself against the Infinite," muttered Maskull.

Suddenly his chaos of passions sprang together, and a wonderful idea swept through his whole being, accompanied by the intensest joy.

The mist closed in all around them. Nothing was visible except the two suns, and a few feet of sea. The shadows of the three men cast by Alppain were not black, but were composed of white daylight.

"Then nothing can hurt me," said Maskull with a peculiar smile.

Gangnet smiled too. "How could it?"

"I have lost my will; I feel as if some foul tumour had been scraped away, leaving me clean and free."

"Do you now understand life, Maskull?"