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'Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty.' Did they really mean that?"

"They meant more; they meant dearer than life itself!" said Jack, slowly. "Only it was stupid always to say the same thing."

"Well, then, listen to this:

Now, Jack, what can that mean? Was anything more absurd?"

"Read another extract, Christine."

"Here is a passage more difficult than any other:

Tell me, if you can, what this means. But perhaps you were never in love. Jack, in the old times."

"Romeo was in love before he met Juliet," said Jack. "I, too, have been reading the old books, you see, Child. I remember—but how can I tell you? I cannot speak like the poet. Yet I remember—I remember," He looked round the room. "It is only here," he murmured, "that one can clearly remember. Here are the very