“David,” Bedient had said, “there is only one greater work for a man in the world than making a woman happy; and that—­making all women happier!  It seems that an avatar must come for that soon.  To-day the great gifts of women are uncalled for by men.  They cannot take each other, save in physical arms.  There is a barrier between the sexes.  Man has not learned, or has forgotten, the heart-language.  What a need for lovers!  If one could look into the secret places of women, across the world’s table, into the minds of women who hate and are restless, and whose desires rove; even into the minds of those who actually venture beyond the man-made pale, he would see over all the need of lovers!...  Give a woman love, and she will give the world lovers, and we shall have brotherhood singing in our ears....  David, I ask you only to look at the genius born of woman, in and out of wedlock, during the first days of her mating with a man whom she believes to be all that she has cried out for.  He may have destroyed every hope afterward, sacked every sanctuary, but, if she trembled close to her great happiness in the beginning, the child of such a beginning has glory upon his brow!”

Cairns was ready to see; ready to read this in the history of men.  More than this, he was ready to flood fresh dawns of light into the tired eyes of Vina Nettleton, and upon her pallor make roses bloom.  Moreover, he could discern in her an immortal artist, the conception of which changed him from a male to a man.

And of this seeing came another needed conception:  that intellectual arrogance is the true modern devil; that the ancient devil, desire of flesh, is obvious, banal, and commonplace, compared to this....  He dared to bring his realizations to a woman, and found that she had a crown for each and every one.  And he learned to talk to her about things vital to men and women, and found that this was the strangest, grandest and most providential hour in the world—­this newest hour.

It was with a rich and encompassing delight that Cairns discovered Vina’s fineness, endurance, delicacy, and intuition.  He was humble before her spirit, for he had become sensitive to that which was mystic and ineffable.  He saw through her, a sanction and authority for his own future years, her light upon the work he must do.  The animation of his mind in her presence was pure with service.  And Vina awakened, for she saw with trembling, what is a miracle to a modern woman’s eyes, man’s delight to honor that which is most truly woman’s.  So her girlhood crept back.

* * * * *

At first Vina thought he was using her for a study.  They had long been friends; she was glad to be of assistance; so he was free to come and go, and she was free with him as only an old comrade can be—­one who expects nothing.  They had great talks about Bedient; both revered him, and were grateful for his coming.  And Vina was not slow to see the change in David Cairns; that it was in nowise momentary, but sound and structural.  She took a deep interest in his progress, mothered it, made him glad to show her its phases.