"Alas, yes! I had heard of your sorrow; and I have come...."

"Yes, I too believed that my unhappiness was irreparable; but now I
know that he is not dead."

"What! He is not dead? Do you mean that the news...? But I thought
that the body...."

"Yes, his body is down there; and I have even a photograph of his
grave. Let me show it to you. See, that cross on the left, the fourth
cross: that is where they have laid him. One of his friends, who
buried him, sent me this card, with all the details. He did not suffer
any pain. There was not even a death-struggle. And he has told me so
himself. He is quite astonished that death should be so easy, so
slight a thing.... You do not understand? Yes, I see what it is: you
are just as I used to be, as all the others are. I do not explain the
matter to the others; what would be the use? They do not wish to
understand. But you, you will understand. He is more alive than he
ever was; he is free and happy. He does just as he likes. He tells me
that one cannot imagine what a release death is, what a weight it
removes from you, nor the joy which it brings. He comes to see me when
I call him. He loves especially to come in the evening; and we chat as
we used to do. He has not altered; he is just as he was on the day
when he went away, only younger, stronger, handsomer. We have never
been happier, or more united, or nearer to one another. He divines my
thoughts before I utter them. He knows everything; he sees everything;
but he cannot tell me everything he knows. He says that I must be
wanting to follow him and that I must wait for my hour. And, while I
wait, we are living in happiness greater than that which was ours
before the war, a happiness which nothing can ever trouble again...."

Those about her pitied the poor woman; and, as she did not weep, as
she was gay and smiling, they believed her mad.

2

Was she as mad as they thought? At the present moment, the great
questions of the world beyond the grave are pressing upon us from
every side. It is probable that, since the world began, there have
never been so many dead as now. The empire of death was never so
mighty, so terrible; it is for us to defend and enlarge the empire of
life. In the presence of this mother, which are right or wrong, those
who are convinced that their dead are forever swept out of existence,
or those who are persuaded that their dead do not cease to live, who
believe that they see them and hear them?