The narrator then asks whether the people in hell will remain there forever or if God will one day release them. MacDonald responds that heaven is open to anyone who truly desires it, but it is not for humans to know the fate of others. To understand redemption fully, one would have to stand outside of time itself, which is beyond human capability.

To illustrate this point, MacDonald takes the narrator to a massive chessboard where pieces move rapidly. As the narrator watches, he suddenly begins to wake up, realizing that he had been dreaming in his study all along.