about a heaven where birds sang the hours, and about angels that came and stood upon men’s thresholds. But I have locked the visions into heaven and turned the key upon them. Well, I must consider this passage about the two countries. My mother used to say something of the kind. She would say that when our bodies sleep our souls awake, and that whatever withers here ripens yonder, and that harvests are snatched from us that they may feed invisible people. But the meaning of the book may be different, for only fools and women have thoughts like that; their thoughts were never written upon the walls of Babylon. [He sees the angel.] What are you? Who are you? I think I saw some that were like you in my dreams when I was a child—that bright thing, that dress that is the colour of embers! But I have done with dreams, I have done with dreams.
angel. I am the Angel of the Most High God.
wise man. Why have you come to me?
angel. I have brought you a message.
wise man. What message have you got for me?
angel. You will die within the hour. You will die when the last grains have fallen in this glass. [She turns the hour-glass.]
wise man. My time to die has not come.
