Page:Leo Tolstoi - Life Is Worth Living and Other Stories - tr. Adolphus Norraikow (1892).djvu/79

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Life is Worth Living.

the Angel of Death. No one but myself saw him at the time, but I recognized him immediately, and I knew that before sunset that day the soul of the rich man would be called to heaven.

"God's second truth was then revealed to me. I already knew what people are made of, and I now learned what they do not need. (It is not necessary for people to care for the future needs of the body.) The knowledge of the second truth caused me to smile a second time. I was rejoiced to see again my old comrade the Angel of Death, for through him God had revealed to me his second truth.

"Still, I was not able to understand all, for I had yet to learn what it is that sustains life. I continued to live with you while awaiting the last of God's revelations tome. In the sixth year the woman came, bringing the twin girls with her. I recognized them at once, and for the first time learned in what manner their lives had been saved. I recalled how the mother