“Surely yes!  Too surely the well-known figure came on; and the prodigal’s sunken eyes looked more sunken still as he gazed.  As for Melchior, he neither spoke nor moved, but stood in a silent agony, terrible to see.  All at once a thought seemed to strike him; he seized his brother, and pushed him to the furthest corner of the seat, and then planted himself firmly at the door just as Death came up and put his hand into the coach.  Then he spoke in a low steady voice, more piteous than cries or tears.

“’I humbly beseech you, good Death, if you must take one of us, to take me.  I have had a long drive, and many comforts and blessings, and am willing if unworthy to go.  He has suffered much, and had no pleasure; leave him for a little to enjoy the drive in peace, just for a very little; he has suffered so much, and I have been so much to blame; let me go instead of him.’

“Alas for Melchior!  It is decreed in the Providence of GOD, that, although the opportunities for doing good, which are in the power of every man, are beyond count or knowledge, yet, the opportunity once neglected, no man by any self-sacrifice can atone for those who have fallen or suffered by his negligence.  Poor Melchior!  An unalterable law made him the powerless spectator of the consequences of his neglected opportunities.  ’No man may deliver his brother, or make agreement unto GOD for him, for it cost more to redeem their souls, so that he must let that alone for ever.’  And is it ever so bitter to ‘let alone,’ as in a case where we might have acted and did not?

“Poor Melchior!  In vain he laid both his hands in Death’s outstretched palm; they fell to him again as if they had passed through air; he was pushed aside—­Death passed into the coach—­’one was taken and the other left.’

“As the cloaked figure glided in and out among the crowd, many turned to look at his sad burden, though few heeded him.  Much was said; but the general voice of the crowd was this:  ’Ah! he is gone, is he?  Well! a born rascal!  It must be a great relief to his brother!’ A conclusion which was about as wise, and about as near the truth, as the world’s conclusions generally are.  As for Melchior, he neither saw the figure nor heard the crowd, for he had fallen senseless among the cushions.

“When he came to his senses, he found himself lying still upon his face; and so bitter was his loneliness and grief, that he lay still and did not move.  He was astonished, however, by the (as it seemed to him) unusual silence.  The noise of the carriages had been deafening, and now there was not a sound.  Was he deaf? or had the crowd gone?  He opened his eyes.  Was he blind? or had the night come?  He sat right up, and shook himself, and looked again.  The crowd was gone; so, for matter of that, was the coach; and so was Godfather Time.  He had not been lying among cushions, but among pillows; he was not in any vehicle of any kind, but in bed.  The room was dark, and very still; but through the ‘barracks’ window, which had no blind, he saw the winter sun pushing through the mist, like a red hot cannon-ball hanging in the frosty trees; and in the yard outside, the cocks were crowing.