and more fearless; and
Orion and Diana were something like their names--very bright and even
fierce at times. She, after all, was the gentlest of the party, and
she was very young--not more than ten years of age. How could she
possibly be a mother to the others?

She looked at Mrs. Delaney, and her mother gazed solemnly at her,
waiting for her to speak.

"After all," thought Iris, "to satisfy the longing in mother's eyes is
the first thing of all. I will promise, cost what it may."

"Yes," she said; then softly, "I will, mother; I will be a mother to
the others."

"Kiss me, Iris."

The little girl threw her arms round her mother's neck; their lips met
in a long embrace.

"Darling, you understand? I am satisfied with your promise, and I am
tired."

"Must I go away, mother? May not I stay very quietly with you? Can you
not sleep if I am in the room?"

"I would rather you left me now. I can sleep better when no one is by.
Ring the bell for Fortune as you go. She will come and make me
comfortable. Yes; I am very tired."

"One moment first, mummy--you have not told me yet when you are going
on the journey."

"The day is not quite fixed, Iris, although it is--yes, it is nearly
so."

"And you have not said _where_ you are going, mother. I should like to
tell the others."

But Mrs. Delaney had closed her eyes, and did not make any reply.

CHAPTER II.

A LITTLE MOTHER TO THE OTHERS.

That night the children's young mother went on her journey. The
summons for her to go came unexpectedly, as it often does in the end.
She had not even time to say good-by to the children, nor to her
husband, only just a brief moment to look, with startled eyes, at the
wonderful face of the angel who had come to fetch her, and then with a
smile of bliss to let him clasp her in his arms and feel his strong
wings round her, and then she was away, beyond the lovely house and
the beautiful garden, and the children sleeping quietly in their beds,
and the husband who was slumbering by her side--beyond the tall trees
and the peaks of the highest mountains, beyond the stars themselves,
until finally she entered the portals of a home that is everlasting,
and found herself in a land where the flowers do not fade.

In the morning the children were told that their mother was dead. They
all cried, and everyone thought it dreadfully sad, except Iris, who
knew better. It was Fortune who brought in the news to the
children--they had j