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its faltering steps. Crying out to Pain, Time asked whether he would help him to rest. “All you must do,” said Time, “is to make Life suffer. Life, preoccupied with unhappiness, will not notice my absence, and I make take advantage of such forgetfulness and rest.”
“But you are wrong,” said Pain. “For it is my experience that only Pleasure can make one forget Time; I, on the contrary, make one remember Time only too well.”
“In that case,” Time answered, “do not reveal yourself to Pleasure, for in seeking you she will search everywhere and as she passes, Life will forget me.”
“And what shall be my reward?” asked Pain.
“Your reward,” Time replied, “is that I shall make you live forever. You shall never die; though the infinite be peopled by all kinds for a dozen eternities, You shall never die.”
“And how shall I remain hidden from Pleasure?” asked Pain.
“That is simple,” said Time. “She will soon forget you, she need only be with me and in due course she will believe that you [have died, indeed that you have never lived.]