rom the corner where Michael sat. They all
looked towards him and saw him sitting, his hands folded on his knees,
gazing upwards and smiling.

X

The woman went away with the girls. Michael rose from the bench, put
down his work, and took off his apron. Then, bowing low to Simon and
his wife, he said: "Farewell, masters. God has forgiven me. I ask your
forgiveness, too, for anything done amiss."

And they saw that a light shone from Michael. And Simon rose, bowed down
to Michael, and said: "I see, Michael, that you are no common man, and I
can neither keep you nor question you. Only tell me this: how is it that
when I found you and brought you home, you were gloomy, and when my
wife gave you food you smiled at her and became brighter? Then when the
gentleman came to order the boots, you smiled again and became brighter
still? And now, when this woman brought the little girls, you smiled a
third time, and have become as bright as day? Tell me, Michael, why does
your face shine so, and why did you smile those three times?"

And Michael answered: "Light shines from me because I have been
punished, but now God has pardoned me. And I smiled three times, because
God sent me to learn three truths, and I have learnt them. One I learnt
when your wife pitied me, and that is why I smiled the first time. The
second I learnt when the rich man ordered the boots, and then I smiled
again. And now, when I saw those little girls, I learn the third and
last truth, and I smiled the third time."

And Simon said, "Tell me, Michael, what did God punish you for? and what
were the three truths? that I, too, may know them."

And Michael answered: "God punished me for disobeying Him. I was an
angel in heaven and disobeyed God. God sent me to fetch a woman's soul.
I flew to earth, and saw a sick woman lying alone, who had just given
birth to twin girls. They moved feebly at their mother's side, but she
could not lift them to her breast. When she saw me, she understood that
God had sent me for her soul, and she wept and said: 'Angel of God! My
husband has just been buried, killed by a falling tree. I have neither
sister, nor aunt, nor mother: no one to care for my orphans. Do not take
my soul! Let me nurse my babes, feed them, and set them on their feet
before I die. Children cannot live without father or mother.' And I
hearkened to her. I placed one child at her breast and gave the other
into her arms, and returned to the Lord in heave