alted his party and unpacked his
stores, and was supplying the wants of the groups on the left. Before
an hour was past he had brought light into their faces by his words of
cheer, and, with his sister and his servants, was on his way to the
plague-stricken village.

Most pitiable was the scene which awaited him there. People were
really dying in the streets, as he had been told. Some were already
dead. A mother had died in front of her cottage, and her little
children sat crying beside her body. Another, with a look of despair
in her eyes, sat rocking the dead body of the child. The men seemed to
have fled.

The Prince's plans were soon formed. He had stores enough to last his
party and himself for a year. He would share these with the villagers
as far as they would go. He had tents also for the journey. He would
use these for a home to his own party and for hospitals for the sick.
Before the sun had set, the tents for his own party were erected on a
breezy height outside the village. And, ere the sun had arisen the
next morning, the largest tent of all had been set in a place by
itself, ready to receive the sick.

Goldenday and his sister never reached the country where the images of
all the Ages are to be found. A chance of doing good met them on their
journey, and they said to each other, "It has been sent to us by God."
They turned aside that they might make it their own. They spent the
year in the deeds of mercy to which it called them among the
plague-stricken villagers.

It would take too long to tell all that this good Prince and his sister
achieved in that year. The village lay in a hollow among dense woods
and on the edge of a stagnant marsh. The Prince had the marsh drained
and the woods thinned. Every house in the village was thoroughly
repaired and cleaned. The sick people were taken up to the
tent-hospital and cared for until they got well. The men who had fled
returned. The terrified mothers ventured back. The sickness began to
slacken. In a few months it disappeared. Then the Prince caused wells
to be dug to supply water for drinking. Then he built airy schools for
the children. Last of all he repaired the church, which had fallen
into ruin, and trained a choir of boys to sing thanks to God. But when
all these things had been accomplished, the year during which he was to
have searched for the Golden Age was within a few weeks of its close.
And, what was worse, it was too pl