When the morn broke, they sought to know how he did? He told
them, Worse and worse; and he set to talk once more in the same
strain as he had done; but they took no heed of it. By and by, to
drive off his fit, they spoke harsh words to him; at times they
would laugh, at times they would chide, and then set him at
nought. So he went to his room to pray for them, as well as to
nurse his own grief. He would go, too, into the woods to read and
muse, and thus for some weeks he spent his time.

Now I saw, in my dream, that one day as he took his walk in the
fields with his book in his hand, he gave a groan,--for he felt
as if a cloud were on his soul,--and he burst out as he was wont
to do, and said, Who will save me? I saw, too, that he gave wild
looks this way and that, as if he would rush off; yet he stood
still, for he could not tell which way to go. At last, a man,
whose name was Evangelist, came up to him and said, Why dost thou
weep?

He said, Sir, I see by this book in my hand that I am to die, and
that then God will judge me. Now I dread to die.

Evangelist.--Why do you fear to die, since this life is fraught
with woe?

The man said, I fear lest a hard doom should wait me, and that
this load on my back will make me sink down, till at last, I
shall find I am in Tophet.

If this be your case, said Evangelist, why do you stand still?