"You should not make pretty compliments to a woman, reverend
father!" she said, lightly--"It is not your vocation!"

His grave face brightened and he laughed with real heartiness.

"Dear lady, what do you know of my vocation?" he asked--"Will you
teach it to me? No!--I am sure you will not try! Listen now!--as you
all give me permission--let me tell you of certain people who once
'went with the time'--and decided to stop en route, and are still at
the stopping-place. Perhaps some of you who travel far and often,
have heard of the Brazen City?"

Each one looked at the other enquiringly, but with no responsive
result.

"Those who visit the East know of it"--went on Aloysius--"And some
say they have seen a glimpse of its shining towers and cupolas in
the far distance. However this may be, tradition declares that it
exists, and that it was founded by St. John, the 'beloved disciple.'
You will recall that when Our Lord was asked when and how John
should die He answered--'If I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee?' So--as we read--the rumour went forth that John
was the one disciple for whom there should be no death. And now--to
go on with the legend--it is believed by many, that deep in the as
yet unexplored depths of the deserts of Egypt--miles and miles over
rolling sand-waves which once formed the bed of a vast ocean, there
stands a great city whose roofs and towers are seemingly of brass,--
a city barricaded and built in by walls of brass and guarded by
gates of brass. Here dwells a race apart--a race of beautiful human
creatures who have discovered the secret of perpetual youth and