almost worsted when one like her came
to him and gave strength to his soul. "For that He was on our side was
the only thing she knew," he said, "and all that could be learned or
discovered was not worthy of naming beside it. And this I must tell
when next I speak to the people, and how our little sister brought it to
my mind."

And then they paused from this discourse, and the little Pilgrim looked
round upon the beautiful houses and the fair gardens, and she said--

"You live here? and do you come home at night?--but I do not mean at
night, I mean when your work is done. And are they poets like you that
dwell all about in these pleasant places, and the--"

She would have said the children, but stopped, not knowing if perhaps it
might be unkind to speak of the children when she saw none there.

Upon this the lady smiled once more, and said--

"The door stands open always, so that no one is shut out, and the
children come and go when they will. They are children no longer, and
they have their appointed work like him and me."

"And you are always among those you love?" the Pilgrim said; upon which
they smiled again and said, "We all love each other;" and the lady held
her hand in both of hers, and caressed it, and softly laughed, and said,
"You know only the little language. When you have been taught the other
you will learn many beautiful things."

She rested for some time after this, and talked much with her new
friends: and then there came into the heart of the little Pilgrim a
longing to go to the place which was appointed for her, and which was
her home, and to do the work which had been given her to do. And when
the lady saw this she rose and said that she would accompany her a
little upon her way. But the poet bade her farewell and remained under
the porch, with the green branches shading him, and the flowers twining
round the pillars, and the open door of his beautiful house behind him.
When she looked back upon him he waved his hand to her as if bidding
her God-speed, and the lady by her side looked back too and waved her
hand, and the little Pilgrim felt tears of happiness come to her eyes;
for she had been wondering with a little disappointment to see that the
people in the city, except those who were strangers, were chiefly alone,
and not like those in the old world where the husband and wife go
together. It consoled her to see again two who were one. The lady
pressed her hand in answer to her thought,