s a message for him that he might understand, and
that he might--"

God said, "Go, take the message down to him!"

I said, "But what is the message?"

God said, "Upon your hearts it is written; take it down to him."

And we turned to go; the angels went with us to the door. They looked at
us.

And one said--"Ai! but their dresses are beautiful!"

And the other said, "I thought it was mire when they came in, but see,
it is all golden!"

But another said, "Hush, it is the light from their faces!"

And we went down to him.

Alassio, Italy.

XI. THE SUNLIGHT LAY ACROSS MY BED.

In the dark one night I lay upon my bed. I heard the policeman's feet
beat on the pavement; I heard the wheels of carriages roll home from
houses of entertainment; I heard a woman's laugh below my window--and
then I fell asleep. And in the dark I dreamt a dream. I dreamt God took
my soul to Hell.

Hell was a fair place; the water of the lake was blue.

I said to God, "I like this place."

God said, "Ay, dost thou!"

Birds sang, turf came to the water-edge, and trees grew from it. Away
off among the trees I saw beautiful women walking. Their clothes were of
many delicate colours and clung to them, and they were tall and graceful
and had yellow hair. Their robes trailed over the grass. They glided
in and out among the trees, and over their heads hung yellow fruit like
large pears of melted gold.

I said, "It is very fair; I would go up and taste the--"

God said, "Wait."

And after a while I noticed a very fair woman pass: she looked this way
and that, and drew down a branch, and it seemed she kissed the fruit
upon it softly, and went on her way, and her dress made no rustle as she
passed over the grass. And when I saw her no more, from among the stems
came another woman fair as she had been, in a delicate tinted robe; she
looked this way and that. When she saw no one there she drew down the
fruit, and when she had looked over it to find a place, she put her
mouth to it softly, and went away. And I saw other and other women come,
making no noise, and they glided away also over the grass.

And I said to God, "What are they doing?"

God said, "They are poisoning."

And I said, "How?"

God said, "They touch it with their lips, when they have made a tiny
wound in it with their fore-teeth they set in it that which is under
their tongues: they close it with their lip--that no man may see the
place, and pass on."

I said