colour of embers! But I have done with dreams, I have done with dreams. ANGEL. I am the Angel of the Most High God. WISE M. Why have you come to me? ANGEL. I have brought you a message. WISE M. What message have you got for me? ANGEL. You will die within the hour. You will die when the last grains have fallen in this glass. [_She turns the hour-glass._] WISE M. My time to die has not come. I have my pupils. I have a young wife and children that I cannot leave. Why must I die? ANGEL. You must die because no souls have passed over the threshold of Heaven since you came into this country. The threshold is grassy, and the gates are rusty, and the angels that keep watch there are lonely. WISE M. Where will death bring me to? ANGEL. The doors of Heaven will not open to you, for you have denied the existence of Heaven; and the doors of Purgatory will not open to you, for you have denied the existence of Purgatory. WISE M. But I have also denied the existence of Hell! ANGEL. Hell is the place of those who deny. WISE M. [_kneels_]. I have, indeed, denied everything, and have taught others to deny. I have believed in nothing but what my senses told me. But, oh! beautiful Angel, forgive me, forgive me! ANGEL. You should have asked forgiveness long ago. WISE M. Had I seen your face as I see it now, oh! beautiful angel, I would have believed, I would have asked forgiveness. Maybe you do not know how easy it is to doubt. Storm, death, the grass rotting, many sicknesses, those are the messengers that came to me. Oh! why are you silent? You carry the pardon of the Most High; give it to me! I would kiss your hands if I were not afraid--no, no, the hem of your dress! ANGEL. You let go undying hands too long ago to take hold of them now. WISE M. You cannot understand. You live in that country people only see in their dreams. Maybe it is as hard for you to understand why we disbelieve as it is for us to believe. Oh! what have I said! You know everything! Give me time to undo what I have done. Give me a year--a month--a day--an hour! Give me to this hour's end, that I may undo what I have done! ANGEL. You cannot undo what you have done. Yet I have this power with my message. If you can find one that believes before the hour's end, you shall come to Heaven after the years of Purgatory. For, from one fiery seed, watched over by those that sent me, the harvest can come again to heap the golden threshing floor. But now farewell, for I am weary of the weight of time. WISE M. Blessed be the Father, blessed be the Son, blessed be the Spirit, blessed be the Messenger They have sent! ANGEL [_at the door and pointing at the hour-glass_]. In a little while the uppermost glass will be empty. [_Goes out._]