Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. III, 1889.djvu/221

Rh on the point of relating a vision he had had the night before.

“Don’t laugh! Don’t any of you laugh; for as sure as I live it was an angel stood in the room and spoke to me. There was a light such as none of you ever saw, and the angel stood in the midst of it. And he said to me: ‘Listen, whilst I reveal to you the truth, that you may know where you are and what you are; and this is done for a great purpose.’ And I fell down on my knees, but never a word could I have spoken. Then the angel said: ‘You are passing through a state of punishment. You, and all the poor among whom you live; all those who are in suffering of body and darkness of mind, were once rich people, with every blessing the world can bestow, with every opportunity of happiness in yourselves and of making others happy. Because you made an ill use of your wealth, because you were selfish and hard-hearted and oppressive and sinful in every kind of indulgence,—therefore after death you received the reward of wickedness. This life you are now leading is that of the damned; this place to which you are confined is Hell! There is no escape for