"Time called out the name of the second brother over his shoulder; and the boy stood up, and bade his brothers and sisters good-bye.
"'It is time that I began to push my way in the world,' said he, and passed out of the coach and in among the crowd.
"'You have taken the only quiet boy,' said Melchior to the godfather, angrily. 'Drive fast, now, for pity's sake; and let us get rid of the tiresome ones.'
"And fast enough they drove, and dropped first one and then the other; but the sisters, and the reading boy, and the youngest still remained.
"'What are you looking at?' said Melchior to the lame sister.
"'At a strange figure in the crowd,' she answered.
"'I see nothing,' said Melchior. But on looking again after a while, he did see a figure wrapped in a cloak, gliding in and out among the people, unnoticed, if not unseen.
"'Who is it?' Melchior asked of the godfather.
"'A friend of mine,' Time answered. 'His name is Death.'
"Melchior shuddered, more especially as the figure had now come up to the coach, and put its hand in through the window, on which, to his horror, the lame sister laid hers and smiled. At this moment the coach stopped.