Tito shook with fear; his hair stood on end; he felt as if his contracted muscles were giving way.
“You are the Devil!” he exclaimed, with undisguised terror.
“Boy!” answered the black robed stranger in a tone of gentle reproof, “why dost thou think that? I am something more and better than the wretched being thou namest.”
“Who are you then?”
“Let us enter the inn and thou wilt know.”
Tito entered quickly, and placing the unknown being before the dim lamp looked at him with intense earnestness.
He appeared to be about thirty-three years of age, tall, pale, and beautiful, dressed in a long tunic, and black, flowing mantle; his long hair concealed by a peculiarly shaped black cap. He was beardless, but nevertheless not effeminate in appearance; and notwithstanding the strength and vigor of his countenance, he did not resemble a man. He appeared to be a human being without sex, a body without soul, or, more properly speaking, a soul without visible mortal body. One would call him a negative personality. His eyes were without brilliancy. They reminded one of the darkness of night; they were ghostly; eyes of sorrow, of death; but so gentle, so inoffensive, so profound in their dumbness that one could not withdraw his gaze. They attracted like the sea; fascinated like a deep abyss; consoled like forgetfulness. Scarcely had Tito fixed his eyes on those inanimate ones, when he felt as though a black veil enveloped him, that all was turning to chaos, and that the noise of the world was like that of a cyclone.
The strange being then uttered these words:—
“I am Death, my friend—I am Death, and God has sent me—God, who has reserved for thee a glorious place in heaven. Five times I have caused thee misery, but at last, I, the implacable deity, have had compassion on thee. When He ordered me to bring thy godless soul before the Tribunal, I prayed to Him to confide thy existence to me, and allow me to remain awhile at thy side, promising in the end to deliver thy spirit cleansed of sin and worthy of His glory. Heaven has not been deaf to my prayer. Thou art then the first mortal whom I ever approached whose body did not turn to cold ashes. Thou art my only friend. Listen, now, and learn the path to happiness and eternal salvation.”