ngel said, "What is it?"

He answered, "It is I! it is myself!" And he went forward as if he would
have lain his heart against it; but the angel held him back and covered
his eyes.

Now God had given power to the angel further to unclothe that soul,
to take from it all those outward attributes of time and place and
circumstance whereby the individual life is marked off from the life of
the whole.

Again the angel uncovered the man's eyes, and he looked. He saw before
him that which in its tiny drop reflects the whole universe; he saw that
which marks within itself the step of the furthest star, and tells how
the crystal grows under ground where no eye has seen it; that which is
where the germ in the egg stirs; which moves the outstretched fingers
of the little newborn babe, and keeps the leaves of the trees pointing
upward; which moves where the jelly-fish sail alone on the sunny seas,
and is where the lichens form on the mountains' rocks.

And the man looked.

And the angel touched him.

But the man bowed his head and shuddered. He whispered--"It is God!"

And the angel re-covered the man's eyes. And when he uncovered them
there was one walking from them a little way off;--for the angel had
re-clothed the soul in its outward form and vesture--and the man knew
who it was.

And the angel said, "Do you know him?"

And the man said, "I know him," and he looked after the figure.

And the angel said, "Have you forgiven him?"

But the man said, "How beautiful my brother is!"

And the angel looked into the man's eyes, and he shaded his own face
with his wing from the light. He laughed softly and went up to God.

But the men were together on earth.

I awoke.

The blue, blue sky was over my head, and the waves were breaking below
on the shore. I walked through the little chapel, and I saw the Madonna
in blue and red, and the Christ carrying his cross, and the Roman
soldiers with the rod, and the Blessed Bambino with its broken face;
and then I walked down the sloping rock to the brick pathway. The olive
trees stood up on either side of the road, their black berries and
pale-green leaves stood out against the sky; and the little ice-plants
hung from the crevices in the stone wall. It seemed to me as if it must
have rained while I was asleep. I thought I had never seen the heavens
and the earth look so beautiful before. I walked down the road. The old,
old, old tiredness was gone.

Presently there came a peasa