“They will take us both when it is time,” she said:  “we do not go at our own will.  But I have seen our Brother—­”

“Oh, take me to him!” the little Pilgrim cried.  “Let me see his face!  I have so many things to say to him.  I want to ask him—­Oh, take me to where I can see his face!”

And then once again the heavenly lady smiled.

“I have seen him,” she said.  “He is always about—­now here, now there.  He will come and see you, perhaps when you are not thinking.  But when he pleases.  We do not think here of what we will—­”

The little Pilgrim sat very still, wondering at all this.  She had thought when a soul left the earth that it went at once to God, and thought of nothing more, except worship and singing of praises.  But this was different from her thoughts.  She sat and pondered and wondered.  She was baffled at many points.  She was not changed, as she expected, but so much like herself; still—­still perplexed, and feeling herself foolish; not understanding:  toiling after a something which she could not grasp.  The only difference was that it was no trouble to her now.  She smiled at herself and at her dullness, feeling sure that by and by she would understand.

“And don’t you wonder too?” she said to her companion, which was a speech such as she used to make upon the earth, when people thought her little remarks disjointed, and did not always see the connection of them.  But her friend of heaven knew what she meant.

“I do nothing but wonder,” she said, “for it is all so natural, not what we thought.”

“Is it long since you have been here?” the Pilgrim said.

“I came before you; but how long or how short I cannot tell, for that is not how we count.  We count only by what happens to us.  And nothing yet has happened to me, except that I have seen our Brother.  My mother sees him always.  That means she has lived here a long time, and well—­”

“Is it possible to live ill—­in heaven?” The little Pilgrim’s eyes grew large, as if they were going to have tears in them, and a little shadow seemed to come over her.  But the other laughed softly, and restored all her confidence.

“I have told you I do not know if it is heaven or not.  No one does ill, but some do little, and some do much, just as it used to be.  Do you remember in Dante there was a lazy spirit that stayed about the gates and never got farther?  But perhaps you never read that.”

“I was not clever,” said the little Pilgrim, wistfully; “no, I never read it.  I wish I had known more.”

Upon which the beautiful lady kissed her again to give her courage, and said,—­

“It does not matter at all.  It all comes to you, whether you have known it or not.”

“Then your mother came here long ago?” said the Pilgrim.  “Ah, then I shall see my mother too.”

“Oh, very soon, as soon as she can come; but there are so many things to do.  Sometimes we can go and meet those who are coming; but it is not always so.  I remember that she had a message.  She could not leave her business, you may be sure, or she would have been here.”