I cannot tell how long it was
before a species of dream or vision came over me.
"Two beautiful youths appeared beside me; each was winged; but the
wings were hanging down and seemed ill-adapted to flight. One of
them, whose voice was the softest I ever heard, looking at me
frequently, said to the other, 'He is under my guardianship for
the present; do not awaken him with that feather.' Methought, on
hearing the whisper, I saw something like the feather on an arrow;
and then the arrow itself; the whole of it, even to the point,
although he carried it in such a manner that it was difficult at
first to discover more than a palm's length of it; the rest of the
shaft (and the whole of the barb) was behind his ankles.
"'This feather never awakens anyone,' replied he, rather
petulantly, 'but it brings more of confident security, and more of
cherished dreams, than you, without me, are capable of imparting.'
"'Be it so!' answered the gentler; 'none is less inclined to
quarrel or dispute than am I. Many whom you have wounded
grievously call upon me for succour; but so little am I disposed
to thwart you, it is seldom I venture to do more for them than to
whisper a few words of comfort in passing. How many reproaches on
these occasions have been cast upon me for indifference and
infidelity! Nearly as many, and nearly in the same terms as upon
you.
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