748 THE DRAMA 



devil's breath of compromise! Whereat the shadowy form of the 

 tempter vanishes with a shriek, " Then die ! The world has no use 

 for thee." 



Then comes the end. From the mad Gerd he learns more than the 

 wisdom of the wise had taught him. He learns in penitential tears 

 that while the name of Jesus has been on his lips, he has never 

 been bathed in his spirit, that while proudly thinking himself another 

 Saviour by whose wounds the world may be healed, he has not even 

 found salvation for his own poor soul. With still unbroken will, 

 recignising himself as the poorest thing that creeps the earth, feeling 

 that he stands on the lowest round of the ladder, yet still with fresh 

 hope as new truth breaks upon him, Brand rises to begin his journey 

 anew. 



But his weary and shattered powers are spared the fresh trial. For 

 Gerd brings down an avalanche by a rifle shot, and as the great snow- 

 slip sweeps over him and her, Brand cries to God from the jaws of 

 death to answer whether man's modicum of mil weighs a single grain 

 in the ecales of salvation. And as the crashing of screes and ice 

 overwhelms him and fills the valley, a voice thunders the answer, 

 "He is the God of Love." 



