ii4 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

" So you found your* tongue after all ? "

" You're quick. Of course I'm not logical.
But who can be logical when talking about the
Canyon ? It just makes you contradict your-
self/*

" Did you do any c time-thinking/ Susie, when
you stood on the rim and looked down into that
awful abyss ? "

" Millions of years, sir. I said to Elmer,
* Doesn't it remind you of Time like an ever-
rolling stream bears all its sons away? That's
Dad's favourite hymn. Think of the ages and
ages it took to make that hole and to paint it ! I
just wallowed in time. I felt it rolling over me
in floods. So did Elmer."

** You must tell me about Elmer later/* I said,
" But first I want to know more about yourself.
What about that new attitude towards life that
you've got out of time-thinking ? "

" Well, it's like this. I just want to get the
best out of everything, and to get it right now^.
And I know there's a best to get. Out of every-
thing — books, friends, nature, art, love, work,
play, father, mother — everything and everybody/'

" I never said anything like that, Susie, in the
lecture at the Vacation Course."

** No: but it follows from your principles."

" Does it ? I don't know. It sounds rather
pagan. Don't you think you're rather a selfish
girl ? "

Selfish ! It's not selfish one bit 1 Why, you

"