The Silver Crown Another Book of Fables
   "Precisely!" said the Wandering Magician.

   The man looked in the glass.

   "Here I see several beings!" he said. "Some of them are distinguished-looking, that one on horseback, for example, and the one with the lyre. But others have a frivolous air, and there is one with positively a low expression; and yet he is attractive too, when I look closer, and I seem to know him. What are these creatures?"

   "These are your tastes!" said the Wandering Magician.

   "Oh!" said the man. "Well, some of them are certainly elegant and refined. But whom have we here? what strange pigmies are these?"

   "Your virtues!" said the Magician.

   "Dear me!" said the man. "Yes, to be sure, I recognize them. But what makes them so small?"

   "This is not a magnifying glass!" said the Magician.

   "But they are pretty!" said the man. "Beautiful, I may say. That little fellow with the twinkle in his eye and his coat out at elbows; he is charming, if I do say it. But what is going on now? here comes a crowd of big, hulking, ruffianly fellows, jostling the little people and driving them to the wall. What a villainous-looking set! Their faces are wholly strange to me; what are they?"

   "Your vices!" said the Wandering Magician.

   But when the man would have fallen upon him, he was gone.

   The shaded room was still; the doctor and the nurse sat watching by the bedside; the firelight crept into the corners and whispered to the shadows: there was no other sound.

   "You think you are ready to go?" asked the Angel-who-attends-to-things.

   "Yes!" said the man. "I have drained the Cup from brim to bitter lees; I have read the Book from cover to cover. I am ready."

   "Humph!" said the Angel-who-attends-to-things. "Well, come along!" and he led the man out, but did not shut the door after him.

   The man had lived in state and splendor, and he had thought that some ceremony would attend his departure, but there was

   nothing of the sort. The only change was, that as he went along the Angel seemed to be 
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