'Pray for the dead, who go to meet
Their sins before the Judgment Seat.
Death comes to all, thou canst not say
But thou ere night may be as they.
O passer by! bow down thy head,
And pray God's mercy for the dead.

'Pray for the living, who to-day

Are wandering on their careless way,
Nor know how thick the snares are spread
Among the flowers where they tread,
Nor mark upon the darkening sky

The storms of Judgment drawing nigh.'

Then all who saw them knelt as they passed, and so did I, and so did the princess, but Messer Guido stood upright.

Just then a boy glided into the dim-lit room, and put a letter into his hand. His face brightened as he read it, and he turned to the princess smiling.

'Will you meet me to-morrow at noon, just across the river by the statue of St. Michael, princess?'

'Why? I hate to pass through the streets, not knowing what I may see or hear.'

'What you shall see and hear across the river will make you forget all else for pleasure.'

Then I will come,' and as she spoke the lightning flashed through the murky air, and then came a low roll of thunder, but neither of them heeded it.

I walked by the Princess's litter next day, for she would have me go with her and her maidens, because, she said, I made her forget the dreariness of the winter with the old tales I knew how to tell her. We had not gone far before she bade them draw the curtains of her litter close, that she might not see the haggard faces of the people as she passed; but she could not shut out their wailing voices, nor the heavy tolling of the Cathedral bells. So we came to the place. Then I was astonished, for I had passed it no later than the day before, and now in the space of a night there had been built a high battlemented wall, and in it one small door only, and beside it stood Messer Guido with his hand on the latch.

He opened it, and we entered. As the door fell to, I heard at the same moment a woman sobbing in the pitiless wind outside, and a cry from the Princess

'Surely this is Eden!'

She might well say it. Since the days of that first garden I think such flowers had never bloomed on earth. The turf was so thick with daisies and violets that you could not tread without setting your foot on them; there were lilies growing everywhere, and the air was full of the scent of roses, for they bloomed in masses of white and crimson, flinging themselves across the branches of the green over-arching trees, and twining round the fountains, dropping their petals in the sunlit water. The whole place was musical with the ripple of streams and the singing of the nightingales, and through the deep green shade I could see the glimmer of such golden fruit as I thought grew nowhere but in the dragon-watched garden of the Hesperides, of which I had read in the old poets.

Through it all the lovers wandered hand in hand, and their eyes were turned to each other's faces even more than to the beauty of the garden. I could hear their low happy voices as they came and went through the shade and sunshine, and I knew at last my lord had won his heart's desire, nor did it cross my mind to wonder what was the price he had paid for the winning.

Now all this while the princess's maidens had followed her at a distance. They were seven in number, and they walked hand in hand, save that the youngest, who was also fairest of the seven, walked between two of her companions. She was scarcely more than a child, and she wore our Lady's colours of white and blue. All at once I heard her say, 'It seems as if all the flowers of the earth grow in this garden, yet the passion-flower I see nowhere.'

And a voice behind her answered, 'Here it cannot grow, for it is marked with the sign of the Cross.'

Then I turned to see who spoke, and it was the Greek Eudoxius who had crept in like a black shadow in the sunshine of the place. At the same moment the princess turned also, and whether it was that the look on the Greek's dark face terrified her, I know not, but she turned pale and shuddered as if the deadly chill of the city outside had struck her even there. Then she smiled again, and bade one of her maidens reach her an apple from the tree that bent over them laden with fruit and flowers at once, For I think,' said she, 'that these must be the golden Apples of Immortality, of which the old poets tell us.'

It was the child Lisa who plucked the fruit, but before handing it to her mistress she made over it the sign of the Cross, as she had been taught to do in her convent, and instantly as it

lay on her hand it withered away into a little heap of grey

ashes.

The maidens standing by cried out in fear, and the princess clung to the arm on which she leant, crying, 'It is sorcery. Guido, Guido, this is an evil place; how came it in your mind to bring us here?'

But he spoke not a word in answer, and the Greek pressed forward again, with a smile on his face.

'Shall I tell you, sweet princess?' he said. 'Shall I tell you how that stately lover of yours came not once but many times to my poor house in the midnight to beg my help against the Eternal laws? Shall I tell you what he gave because of a few light words you spoke unheeding? and what he swore? and what he signed away?'

'No, no, it is false,' cried the princess. 'Tell me he lies, Guido, and then take me out of this fearful place.' Still he spoke not a word in answer, but only led her silently down a little path which I had forgotten. But here the roses grew so thickly that a man might scarce pass, and there were more thorns than roses, so that when Messer Guido had forced a way for the princess it was with torn dress and bleeding hands, which he heeded not, that at last he caught the gleam of the golden bars.

But the door was fast shut, and they stood still looking upon one another with faces pale and horror-stricken under the wreathed roses, and above the singing of the birds we heard Eudoxius the sorcerer laughing to himself.

'Too late, too late, sweet princess; too late, Messer Guido. Any fool can enter the rose garden, but he goes not out again till the Judgment Day.' I saw Messer Guido spring at him with his sword drawn, and I saw the sword fall from his hand as if it had been shivered against a rock. Then the princess flung herself on her knees at the Greek's feet, and prayed him for the love of the saints to unbar the door; but he still smiled his evil smile, and stood with his hand at his ear as if listening for a sound from far away. Then one of the princess's maidens spoke with a trembling voice, and her face was as white as the pearls at her neck, 'You have no power over us who were signed at our baptism.

True, fair lady,' answered Eudoxius, 'but over one of you I have power, for he came here knowing what he did.'

Again he listened. Then he turned to the princess. Be warned,' he said. 'If I open that door you go free indeed, but VOL. 85 (V.-NEW SERIES). NO. 503.

4

one of you goes to certain death. Will you choose that for him, princess? Think of it. You say well, this is Eden. Nothing can touch these roses till the end of time, and you and he are together here as you never can be again while the world lasts. Will you take his life for fear of what the priests have told you?'

But it was Messer Guido who answered, Open the door. I wondered, as Eudoxius bent to the heavy bar whether Time had stood still with us among the flowers, and if when we looked forth upon the city again we should see a strange place and strange faces to whom our story would be but as a fable of the past. But I knew in a moment it was not so, for as the door opened the icy wind swept the snow to our feet and at the same time a tempest of cries burst upon us like the howling of a great storm.

Then I knew why Eudoxius had opened the door. 'Come out, come out,' the people shrieked. 'These are they whose evil arts have blasted our trees and blackened our harvest!' 'See, they have been feasting among the roses while we were perishing with hunger!' 'Bring us out this witch from across the seas!' 'And her false lover who has brought the curse on us all!'

We all shrank back, even my master for one moment, for the hatred of the city was a thing that neither he nor his had ever faced before. Then I heard his voice above the tumult. 'None of these have wronged you. It was my doing from first to last, and you can take my life at your pleasure.'

I can see it now, the steep snow-covered roofs against the blackness of the sky, and the waning yellow light, which scarce was like the light of day, shining on the sea of fierce faces, as the crowd closed round my master.

I was making in to his help (though what could one poor scholar do against an armed crowd?) when the doors of the great Church close by opened, and on the steps we could see the priests in their white robes with incense smoke rising from their jewelled censers against the gold and purple banners, and above the sobbing of the frightened women and the shrieks of the crowd, we heard their voices rise in the 'Dies Irae.' Almost, it seemed to me, it had come already, for looking up I could see the grave still face of the archbishop, who, men said, was half a saint already, and who had said all through that the troubles which had come on our city had come on it through the sins of

the people. He had little love for my master, thinking him half way to a pagan, and it came on me now that he would say a death in the midst of that raging crowd was a fitting judgment on the deadly sin of witchcraft. But suddenly the chant ceased, as the singers perceived that some evil thing was doing, and came hurrying down into the midst of us with the archbishop at their head.

'What means this, my children?' he said as the crowd made way for him. 'Have we not troubles enough already but you must needs bring down the wrath of heaven on us by tumult and violence?'

'But the man is a sorcerer,' cried several voices together.

'And if he is, who made you his judges?' the archbishop answered. He had made his way to us by this time, and was lifting up my master who had just been dragged down by the crowd, having indeed made no effort to defend himself from them.

At that moment there was a cry from the women behind, 'The princess! Help for the princess.' She was in safety; the crowd had never touched her; but as we turned we felt that it was no living woman whom her maidens were holding, and when they laid her gently down the snow was scarcely whiter than her face. I saw Messer Guido break away from the men who held him, and fling himself on his knees at her side; and then there was silence, only many pressed forward to look at her, for she lay there as fair as a saint.

Then the archbishop turned to me, and I tried falteringly to tell him how things had been, but when I looked round for Eudoxius he was nowhere to be seen, and what was wonderful, there was no trace of the gate or the garden, but the ground lay black and blasted as you see it now, and there was no proof that such things had ever been, except that the princess still held a few fresh roses clasped against her heart.

'My children,' said the archbishop at last, 'I bid you return to your homes, and give thanks that you have been saved from a grievous crime. For this our sister we trust that God has taken her to His mercy; for if she offended, it was in ignorance, and because she had much love for one unworthy. Carry her into the church, my brothers, and we will have masses sung for her as soon as midnight strikes.'

Then he bent down and spoke to Messer Guido and led him away. I never saw my master's face again.