1386 THE KNIGHT, THE HERMIT,

 

selves to God; and they left him, believing
the hermit to be a wise and happy man.

But they erred. Neither prayer nor pe-
nance filled the aching void that was in
his bosom. If he were happy, it was a
happiness for which none need have felt
an envious wish; if he were wise, his wis-
dom partook more of the selfishness of this
world than of the holy benevolence of the
next.

The days came and went; the seasons
changed; years passed; and still the her-
mit’s prayers went up at morning, and the
setting sun looked upon his kneeling form.
His body was bent, though not with age;
his long hair whitened, but not with the
snows of many winters. Yet all availed
not. The solitary one found not in prayer
and penance that peace which passeth all
understanding. +

One night he dreamed in his cell that
the Angel of Mercy came to him, and said:

“Tt is in vain—all in vain! Art thou
not a man, to whom power has been given