"Well," said Pluizer, "they must do as they think best. Such people must amuse themselves, and this is the only way they know."
Johannes felt that some one was standing behind him, and he looked round. It was the well-known, tall figure. The pale face was whimsically lighted by the glare, so that the eyes formed large, dark depressions. He murmured softly to himself, and pointed with a finger into the lighted palace.
"Look!" said Pluizer. "He is making another selection."
Johannes looked where the finger pointed. He saw the old lady, even as she was speaking, shut her eyes and put her hand to her head, and the beautiful young girl stay her slow step, and stare before her with a slight shiver.
"When?" asked Pluizer of Death.
"That is my affair," said the latter.
"I should like to show Johannes this same company still another time," said Pluizer, with a wink and a grin. "May I?"
"To-night?" asked Death.
"Why not?" said Pluizer. "In that place is neither hour nor time. What now is has always been, and what is to be, already is."
"I cannot go with you," said Death. "I have too much to do; but speak the name that we both know, and you can find the way without me."