h hangings of purple
and gold. Around it three virgins keep constant watch that no soul may
approach it, except the chosen one for whom the bed is prepared."

Believing that this bed was the symbol of his glorification, Paphnutius
had already begun to return thanks to God. But Anthony made a sign
to him to be silent, and to listen to the Fool, who murmured in his
ecstasy--

"The three virgins speak to me; they say unto me: 'A saint is about to
quit the earth; Thais of Alexandria is dying. And we have prepared the
bed of her glory, for we are her virtues--Faith, Fear, and Love.'"

Anthony asked--

"Sweet child, what else seest thou?"

Paul gazed vacantly from the zenith to the nadir, and from west to east,
when suddenly his eyes fell on the Abbot of Antinoe. His face grew pale
with a holy terror, and his eyeballs reflected invisible flames.

"I see," he murmured, "three demons, who, full of joy, prepare to seize
that man. One of them is like unto a tower, one to a woman, and one to
a mage. All three bear their name, marked with red-hot iron; the first
on the forehead, the second on the belly, the third on the breast, and
those names are--Pride, Lust, and Doubt. I have finished."

Having spoken thus, Paul, with haggard eyes and hanging jaw, returned to
his old simple ways.

And, as the monks of Antinoe looked anxiously at Anthony, the saint
pronounced these words--

"God has made known His just judgment. Let us bow to Him and hold our
peace."

He passed. He bestowed blessings as he went. The sun, now descended to
the horizon, enveloped him in its glory, and his shadow, immeasurably
elongated by a miracle from heaven, unrolled itself behind him like an
endless carpet, as a sign of the long remembrance this great saint would
leave amongst men.

Upright, but thunderstruck, Paphnutius saw and heard nothing more. One
word alone rang in his ears, "Thais is dying!" The thought had never
occurred to him. Twenty years had he contemplated a mummy's head, and
yet the idea that death would close the eyes of Thais astonished him
hopelessly.

"Thais is dying!" An incomprehensible saying! "Thais is dying!" In those
three words what a new and terrible sense! "Thais is dying!" Then why
the sun, the flowers, the brooks, and all creation? "Thais is dying!"
What good was all the universe? Suddenly he sprang forward. "To see her
again, to see her once more!" He began to run. He knew not where he was,
or whither he went, but in