the goblin forms that had terrified Paulus.

The patient anchorite sat down again on the stone seat. "The frost is
really cruel," thought he, "and a very good thing is such a woolly
sheepskin; but the Saviour endured far other sufferings than these, and
for what did I quit the world but to imitate Him, and to endure to the
end here that I may win the joys of the other world. There, where angels
soar, man will need no wretched ram's fell, and this time certainly
selfishness has been far from me, for I really and truly suffer for
another--I am freezing for Hermas, and to spare the old man pain. I
would it were even colder! Nay, I will never, absolutely never again lay
a sheepskin over my shoulders."

Paulus nodded his head as if to signify assent to his own resolve; but
presently he looked graver, for again it seemed to him that he was
walking in a wrong path.

"Aye! Man achieves a handful of good, and forthwith his heart swells
with a camel-load of pride. What though my teeth are chattering, I am
none the less a most miserable creature. How it tickled my vanity, in
spite of all my meditations and scruples, when they came from Raithu and
offered me the office of elder; I felt more triumphant the first time I
won with the quadriga, but I was scarcely more puffed up with pride then,
than I was yesterday. How many who think to follow the Lord strive only
to be exalted as He is; they keep well out of the way of His abasement.
Thou, O Thou Most High, art my witness that I earnestly seek it, but
so soon as the thorns tear my flesh the drops of blood turn to roses, and
if I put them aside, others come and still fling garlands in my way. I
verily believe that it is as hard here on earth to find pain without
pleasure, as pleasure without pain."