is stained. The rest was
vague. Then suddenly she was back again in Machaerus, and she heard the
ringing words of John. Could this be the Messiah her nation awaited? was
there a kingdom coming, and immortality too?

Her thoughts entangled and grew confused. There was a murmur of harps in
the distance, and she wondered whence it could come. Some one was
speaking; she tried to rouse herself and listen. The room was filled with
bats that changed to butterflies. The murmur of harps continued, and
through the wall before her issued a litter in which a woman lay.

A circle of slaves surrounded her. She was pale, and her eyes closed
languorously. "I am Indolence," she said. "Sleep is not softer than my
couch. My lightest wish is law to kings. I live on perfumes; my days are
as shadows on glass. Mary, come with me, and I will teach you to forget."

She vanished, and where the litter had been stood a eunuch. "I am Envy,"
he said, and his eyes drooped sullenly. "I separate those that love; I
dismantle altars and dismember nations. I corrode and corrupt; I destroy,
and I never rebuild. My joy is malice, and my creed false-witnessing.
Mary, come with me, and you will learn to hate."

He disappeared, and where his slime had dripped stood a being with fingers
intertwisted and a back that bent. "I am Greed," it said. "I sap the veins
of youth; I drain the hearts of women; I bring contention where peace
should be. I make fathers destroy their sons, and daughters betray their
mother. I never forget, and I never release. I am the master. Mary, come
with me, and you shall own the world."

The fetor of the presence went, and in its place came one whose footsteps
thundered. "I am Anger," he declared. "I exterminate and rejoice. I batten
on blood. In my heart is suspicion, in my hand is flame. It is I that am
war and disaster and regret. My breath consumes, and my voice affrights.
Mary, come with me, and you will learn to quell."

He dissolved, and in the shadows stood one whose hands were ample, and
whose wide mouth laughed. "I am Gluttony," he announced, and as he spoke
his voice was thick. "I fatten and forsake. I offer satrapies for one new
dish. I invite and alienate, I welcome and repel. It is I that bring
disease and disorders. I am the harbinger of Death. Mary, come with me,
and you shall taste of Life."

He also disappeared, and two heralds entered with trumpets on which they
blew, and one exclaimed, "Make way for Assurbanipal