annot
suppress its emotions toward one who still hopes that he has been
talking with ----; and who says that, for him to be convinced of
this, is to be convinced that she who has been talking with him has not
intentionally deceived him.'

She then wrought upon my feelings by portraying her sufferings, until,
in my maudlin condition, I was casting about to find how I should help
her; just as you sometimes see a drunken tramp striving to pull his
drunken pal out of a ditch.

'So, most self-forgetful, you begin to think that you ought to help me
bear my burden; as you have planned sitting there, with your little
friend encircling you in her so warm embrace. But why should I inform
you of such fact, as this last, until you are convinced that all you
have heard is not the wily utterance of seducing and hellish spirits?
Try not to entertain such awful suspicions. As to the cause of these
lamentable failures, I can only suppose that the Lord wishes to make us,
who wrongly prophesied, sensible of our inability to foretell future
events.'

Then came some bungled Scriptures about my 'mission,' which roused my
ire. My taunts drew forth this response:

'Why do you love to ridicule my tenderness, and speak so awfully to one
who has no other human source of perfect happiness?'

The day following, the solemn dodge was again resorted to. I began to
feel a sort of awe creeping over me. My affectionate friend thereupon
wrote:

'What a change a few minutes have wrought in you. Yes! yes! the morning
light is breaking. The fiery trial is complete. As I write there rests
upon your now placid brow a glorious and marvellously beautiful crown.
The cup is drained. 'To him that sat in the valley and shadow of death
light has sprung up.' And now awe seizeth me: for there standeth, as yet
a long way off, one whose form is like to that of the Son of Man. In a
very little while, now, the great event must inevitably occur. He who
stands upon the holy mount prepares to open your sight, and give you
your commission. How can we see him face to face and live! Let not a
passing suspicion of further delay disturb you. Already you begin to
feel the influence of his approach. Well may you heave a sigh--as one
who experiences a sudden and unlooked-for relief. In less than ten
minutes the Lord will appear to you. So make ready, in solemn meditation
and prayer, for the most solemn event of your or any other man's life is
at hand.'

'If the vision tarry