Angels and Women (1924)

224 ANGELS AND WOMENwho can read the secrets of the hearts knowsthe struggle, the difficulties through whichHe has permitted me to pass. With no humanguide to direct, no one to understandbut He who is the Father of the fatherless.A nameless melancholy fills my heart.Upon a rock projecting from the waterstood motionless a tall figure enshrouded inblack robes, leaning upon a heavy sword, andas we floated near, I recognized the dreadform of Azelles, the Dark Angel! His eyeswept over the waste of waters and I heardthese words:"The work is finished, the decrees of theMost High are fulfilled and I go to Him fromwhom I came."So saying he loosened his black cowl andmantle and cast them with his sword into thesea; for the insignia of pain and woe are notpermitted to enter the realm of Heaven.As he soared upward, there was revealeda form so ineffably fair, a face so radiantwith eternal youth, that in sudden surprise,