FOOL [_looking wise_]. No, no, I won't tell you what is in my mind, and I won't tell you what is in my bag. You might steal away my thoughts. I met a bodach on the road yesterday, and he said, "Teigue, tell me how many pennies are in your bag; I will wager three pennies that there are not twenty pennies in your bag; let me put in my hand and count them." But I pulled the strings tighter, like this; and when I go to sleep every night I hide the bag where no one knows. WISE M. [_goes towards the hour-glass as if to uncover it_]. No, no, I have not the courage. [_He kneels._] Have pity upon me, Fool, and tell me! FOOL. Ah! Now, that is different. I am not afraid of you now. But I must come nearer to you; somebody in there might hear what the Angel said. WISE M. Oh, what did the Angel tell you? FOOL. Once I was alone on the hills, and an angel came by and he said, "Teigue the Fool, do not forget the Three Fires; the Fire that punishes, the Fire that purifies, and the Fire wherein the soul rejoices for ever!" WISE M. He believes! I am saved! The sand has run out.... [FOOL _helps him to his chair._] I am going from the country of the seven wandering stars, and I am going to the country of the fixed stars!... I understand it all now. One sinks in on God; we do not see the truth; God sees the truth in us. Ring the bell. [FOOL _rings bell._] Are they coming? Tell them, Fool, that when the life and the mind are broken the truth comes through them like peas through a broken peascod. Pray, Fool, that they may be given a sign and carry their souls alive out of the dying world. Your prayers are better than mine. [FOOL _bows his head_. WISE MAN's _head sinks on his arm on the books_. PUPILS _are heard singing as before, but now they come right into the room before they cease their song._] A YOUNG MAN. Look at the Fool turned bell-ringer! ANOTHER. What have you called us in for, Teigue? What are you going to tell us? ANOTHER. No wonder he has had dreams! See, he is fast asleep now. [_Goes over and touches him._] Oh, he is dead! FOOL. Do not stir! He asked for a sign that you might be saved. [_All are silent for a moment._] ... Look what has come from his mouth ... a little winged thing ... a little shining thing.... It is gone to the door. [_The_ ANGEL _appears in the doorway, stretches out her hands and closes them again._] The Angel has taken it in her hands.... She will open her hands in the Garden of Paradise. [_They all kneel._] CURTAIN * * * * * BY ALFRED NOYES Poems With an Introduction by HAMILTON W. MABIE _Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net_