e dreaming, I suppose," she said to
herself regretfully; for it was all so sweet that she wished it to be
true. Her movement called her attention to herself, and she found that
she was dressed, not in her night-dress, as she had lain down, but in a
dress she did not know. She paused for a moment to look at it and
wonder. She had never seen it before; she did not make out how it was
made, or what stuff it was; but it fell so pleasantly about her, it was
so soft and light, that in her confused state she abandoned that subject
with only an additional sense of pleasure. And now the atmosphere became
more distinct to her. She saw that under her feet was a greenness as of
close velvet turf, both cool and warm, cool and soft to touch, but with
no damp in it, as might have been at that early hour, and with flowers
showing here and there. She stood looking round her, not able to
identify the landscape because she was still confused a little, and then
walked softly on, all the time afraid lest she should awake and lose the
sweetness of it all, and the sense of rest and happiness. She felt so
light, so airy, as if she could skim across the field like any child. It
was bliss enough to breathe and move with every organ so free. After
more than fifty years of hard service in the world to feel like this,
even in a dream! She smiled to herself at her own pleasure; and then
once more, yet more potently, there came back upon her the appearance
of her room in which she had fallen asleep. How had she got from there
to here? Had she been carried away in her sleep, or was it only a dream,
and would she by and by find herself between the four dim walls again?
Then this shadow of recollection faded away once more, and she moved
forward, walking in a soft rapture over the delicious turf. Presently
she came to a little mound upon which she paused to look about her.
Every moment she saw a little farther: blue hills far away, extending in
long sweet distance, an indefinite landscape, but fair and vast, so that
there could be seen no end to it, not even the line of the horizon--save
at one side, where there seemed to be a great shadowy gateway, and
something dim beyond. She turned from the brightness to look at this,
and when she had looked for some time she saw what pleased her still
more, though she had been so happy before--people coming in. They were
too far off for her to see clearly, but many came, each apart, one
figure only at a time. To watc