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SYLVIE AND BRUNO CONCLUDED.

of each man's condition being what it is at the second epoch? They are of two kinds——one acting from within, the other from without. These two kinds need to be discussed separately——that is, if I have not already tired you with my prosing?"

"On the contrary," said Lady Muriel, "it is a special delight to me to have a question discussed in this way——analysed and arranged, so that one can understand it. Some books, that profess to argue out a question, are to me intolerably wearisome, simply because the ideas are all arranged hap-hazard——a sort of 'first come, first served.'"

"You are very encouraging," Arthur replied, with a pleased look. "The causes, acting from within, which make a man's character what it is at any given moment, are his successive acts of volition——that is, his acts of choosing whether he will do this or that."

"We are to assume the existence of Free-Will?" I said, in order to have that point made quite clear.

"If not," was the quiet reply, "cadit quaestio: and I have no more to say."