There one opened and read: "_Sudden the worst turns best to the brave_" or Thoreau's "_I have yet to hear a single word of wisdom spoken to me by my elders,_" or again Matthew Arnold's "_Tasks in hours of insight willed May be through hours of gloom fulfilled_." James Mesurier knew nothing of all this; but if he had, he might have understood that after all his children were not so far from the kingdom of heaven..