All this I beheld at a single glance. There was no other furniture in that little place, neither chair nor table; and the brass lamp was set upon the floor, near a heaped-up bed of rushes and dried leaves upon which I beheld the anchorite himself. He was lying upon his back, and seemed a vigorous, able-bodied man of a good length. He wore a loose brown habit roughly tied about his middle by a piece of rope from which was suspended an enormous string of beads. His beard and hair were black, but his face was livid as a corpse's, and as I looked at him he emitted a fresh groan, and writhed as if in mortal suffering. “O my God! My God!” I heard him crying. “Am I to die alone? Mercy! I repent me!” And he writhed moaning, and rolled over on his side so that he faced me, and I saw that his livid countenance was glistening with sweat. I stepped aside and lifted the latch of the rude door. “Are you suffering, father?” I asked, almost fearfully. At the sound of my voice, he suddenly sat up, and there was a great fear in his eyes. Then he fell back again with a cry. “I thank Thee, my God! I thank Thee!” I entered, and crossing to his side, I went down on my knees beside him. Without giving me time to speak, he clutched my arm with one of his clammy hands, and raised himself painfully upon his elbow, his eyes burning with the fever that was in him. “A priest!” he gasped. “Get me a priest! Oh, if you would be saved from the flames of everlasting Hell, get me a priest to shrive me. I am dying, and I would not go hence with the burden of all this sin upon my soul.” I could feel the heat of his hand through the sleeve of my coat. His condition was plain. A raging fever was burning out his life. “Be comforted,” I said. “I will go at once.” And I rose, whilst he poured forth his blessings upon me. At the door I checked to ask what was the nearest place. “Casi,” he said hoarsely. “To your right, you will see the path down the hill-side. You cannot miss it. In half an hour you should be there. And return at once, for I have not long. I feel it.” With a last word of reassurance and comfort I closed the door, and plunged away into the darkness. CHAPTER V. THE RENUNCIATION I found the path the hermit spoke of, and followed its sinuous downhill course, now running when the ground was open, now moving more cautiously, yet always swiftly, when it led me through places darkened by trees.