He looked down upon Peshawur, and the words which Ralston had lately spoken, half in amusement, half with regret, suddenly took for him their full meaning.

Was it true that there was no change but the change from the young woman to the old one, from enthusiasm to acquiescence?
He was young, and the possibility chilled him and even inspired him with a kind of terror.

Was he to carry the Road no further than his father had done?
Would another Linforth in another generation come to the tower in Peshawur with hopes as high as his and with the like futility?
"On the contrary ?" he asked.

"Then why ?" "That you might stop the Road from going on," said Ralston quietly.
In the very midst of his disappointment Linforth realised that he had misjudged his companion.

Here was no official, here was a man.