THE ANGEL'S VOICE.

I.

THE last notes of the anthem were still whispering amid the distant aisles, and the last footfall of the evening worshippers had ceased to echo through the venerable pile, when the stony eyes of the grim old carvings of the fretted roof looked down upon four silent men, who seemed so bound by some mighty spell that they could neither speak nor stir.

These four were famous amid their fellows for their power in song, and music knit them into a brotherhood peculiarly its own. Their names were different, but in song their hearts were one; and Wilhelm Berlenz, Oskar Neubert, Carl Dijeck, and Johann Meyer, were ever looked upon by their townsfellows as a family in themselves.

That

"Carl Dijeck," whispered Wilhelm Berlenz, "there was a voice amid the choir which savoured not of earth. stream of song never passed through human lip."

"Hush, Wilhelm! hush!" muttered Carl Dijeck between his teeth, "tis still vibrating upon my ear, 'tis still floating through my brain."

"I would 'twere mine," said Wilhelm Berlenz; "the golden chain which the townsfolk gave would I freely give again to have it for a single year."

"The voice which thou wouldest have is neither to be bought nor sold!" and as these words were spoken, light brightened around Wilhelm Berlenz and his comrades, till, dazzled by its radiance, they laid their hands upon their eyes.

"Wilhelm Berlenz," continued the one that spake, "thou hast truly said, thou hast heard a voice which singeth in other choirs than those of earth, it would not be well for

A LOAN FOR THREE YEARS.

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any to be intrusted with such a voice while they are in the flesh."

"I would give my life for it," answered Wilhelm Ber lenz, "if only I might have it for a while."

"If it were given to thee," said the one that spake, "it would shake to pieces thy mortal frame, for it hath the energies of another life, and it would cast on thee terrible responsibilities which as a man thou couldest not fulfil."

"Nevertheless would I have it,-aye, even with them all." "Thou canst have no gift, Wilhelm Berlenz, nor can thy brethren here, without having to give account thereof. Then, why shouldest thou wish for this?"

"Ever would we sing psalms, and be heard in madrigals, and serenades, and other songs no more, if we could sing after the fashion which we have just now heard." And to these words of Carl Dijeck's, all gave assent as though they had been one.

"This voice thou canst not have," said the being to whom Carl Dijeck's speech had been addressed, "but thou canst have that of the next degree, if thou wilt take the responsibilities which it entails.”

"We take it," said they all.

"Remember! all God's gifts are vouchsafed for His own honour, and must be spent for, and thus return to, Him." "We remember," said they all.

"In three years ye must give account.'

"We will give account." And then the brightness which was around the four young men faded away and left them in the dim twilight in which they had been before, and solemnly, but withal gladly, they turned their steps toward their homes.

II.

When the twilight had long deepened into night, the four brethren in song met beneath the great oak-tree to

chant the Christmas carol through the streets of their quaint old town. With one consent they had discarded all such as they had used in former days, and chosen a rich grand psalm, for they knew that they had that within them for which the holiest words would be most fit. And when they made proof they felt that the angel's gift was theirs, for the power of song for which they longed so much thrilled along every nerve, and welled upward from their nature's lowest depths, and flowed forth in strains, the scores of which they had never seen, until they trembled within themselves and felt half terrified with the consciousness that they owned a power which was not of the earth. But although the four brethren trembled, they felt themselves upheld; fresh energies seemed ever to be supplied to be poured forth anew in song. Throughout the town then did they chant their Christmas carol, and while they chanted some slept, yet the music fell upon their wearied brain, and they dreamed of heaven; and some opened their casements and looked out, and tried in vain to pierce the gloom, and, not seeing any human form, reported for many a long year after, that angels had once sung a Christmas carol through their town:-four only in the old town knew who sang that night, and these four had each the angel's gift. Their carol being ended, the brethren in song went each one to his home to rest, and a long while tossed to and fro as they thought of the wondrous gift they had received; at length they slept, and each one saw himself alone on the spot where he had that day received his gift. The light was shining as it had done before; but now the being that spake could be seen, and each one saw that it was of another world, and that it was no marvel that it had sung so sweet a song. There was soft love in that being's eyes, and vast intellect enthroned upon its brow, and withal holy determination in its solemn face, and in one hand it held a balance, and in the other a crown and sword.

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"By this balance of the sanctuary thou shalt be weighed," said the angel; "it will turn with a hair.”

"We shall all be judged,” said each one solemnly in his dream.

"Thou shalt be judged for all things, and for that which thou hast received to-day. A special gift hath an especial trial which it must undergo."

"Thou hast something besides this balance," said each one in his dream; "thou hast a crown and sword."

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They are the issue of thy life, thou shalt find one or other at thy journey's end."

Thus were the four brethren warned, and each awoke with a solemn feeling upon his mind, which never wholly passed away, and which, for a season, kept their gift in exercise on holy things alone.

III.

Soon it was discovered by them all that they had now a strange fascination in their speech, and that not only when they sang, but also when they spake, their fellow-men were moved by them as they used not to be in former days. Few could resist the magic of their voice, and albeit when they sang that voice was sweetest, still in mere speech it had a wondrous and mysterious power. This they each one knew, and with the knowledge came a tempting voice which said, "Turn to account these silver tongues, and with them gain high worldly ends." Had the four brethren remained together, mayhap they might have strengthened one another; for each knew the terms on which he held his wondrous faculty, but the tempter had scattered them asunder, and each now dwelt far separated from his fellow. Each one was with his tempter, and had no warning voice, save that which ever spake to him from within.

"Oskar Neubert," whispered a messenger of evil," thou

art fitted for a higher post than this poor station where thou scarce hast bread. Less able men have nobler standing. If I were thee, I would not tarry here."

"They all have friends," replied the young man, "and without friends but little can be done."

"Thou canst befriend thyself; true nobility will not owe to another, when it has aught to spend which it can call its own."

"I have no friend."

"Thou hast thy voice, which if thou wilt use as thou shouldst will carry thee to fame and power, and put thee in Jassann Offling's seat, where in thy soul thou knowest thou hast often longed to be."

"Why then has not my voice done this ere now?" for Oskar Neubert did not deny that to possess earthly power was his highest wish, and that Jassann Offling's post was that to which he had long aspired.

"Because thy voice is weak. It is by concentration that all great deeds are wrought, thou spendest too much of its wondrous power in singing in the choir."

"I covenanted with myself," responded Oskar, 66 that if I could but have this voice, I would sing no other music but such as was designed for heavenly praise."

"Thou art not required to sing in round, or madrigal, or serenade. Thou hast only to abstain from psalmody, and, doubtless, with such a voice, the end desired shall be attained."

For some time after this Oskar Neubert still chanted with the choir; but day by day the thought of supplanting Jassann Offling grew more precious in his eyes, and he dropped off, until at length he altogether ceased. At this time the young man had some state papers to arrange, and was directed to attend with them in person before the king.. Now," whispered the Evil One, use thy voice to some

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