The sun had disappeared behind the hills that outline the horizon; the sky had faded from brilliant red to pale yellow. Samouil slept for a few moments, then he opened his eyes again and said: "I have just seen the new Jerusalem, the city with streets of gold. Angels were holding out their arms to me, and I saw my mother among them; I don't remember her face, for she died when I was only three years old, but I knew her at the first glance. It's strange, isn't it?" His voice was altered, and in his great black eyes was reflected the mystery of the Beyond. Then he was seized with a choking fit, and Archag held a glass of lemonade to his lips. He drank a few drops, and thanked his friend with a smile. "How beautiful my mother is! And she looked at me so lovingly! But--she--is--here--and----" He could not go on; his features contracted in a spasm of pain, then they resumed their expression of peace and happiness. Archag, terrified, sprang to the bell. The nurse came running in. "Is he worse?" she asked. "I don't know; I think--he has fainted." The nurse gave one look at the bed, and divined the truth. "He is dead," she whispered, kissing the marble brow. "Good-by, my darling boy; God has taken you to His rest." Archag was convulsed with tears, as he knelt at the foot of the bed. The boys planted cyclamen on Samouil's grave, as he had wished, and in the spring, when the fields are full of flowers, it is covered with a wonderful carpet of pink and white. CHAPTER XVI THE STUDENTS PRESENT A TRAGEDY Great news: the students were to act a tragedy during the Christmas holidays. The winter was very severe this year, and the proceeds of the play were to be distributed among the poor. Mr. Piralian selected the Christian tragedy of Santourt, by Thomas Terzian. Every one approved the choice, but when the poor professor came to assign the parts, he found himself in an embarrassing situation. For the boys, with unbounded confidence in their aptitude for high tragedy, all wanted to play the leading rôles, and refused to take any others, as being beneath their dignity. The college was all topsy-turvy; Dr. Mills had to threaten to forbid the performance altogether before these embryo actors could be pacified.