greenness, leaving the path on purpose. This was a being younger than the
lady who had spoken to her before, with flowing hair all crisped with
touches of sunshine, and a dress all white and soft, like the feathers of
a white dove. There was something in her face different from that of the
other, by which the little Pilgrim knew somehow, without knowing how,
that she had come here as a child, and grown up in this celestial place.
She was tall and fair, and came along with so musical a motion, as if her
foot scarcely touched the ground, that she might have had wings: and the
little Pilgrim indeed was not sure as she watched, whether it might not
perhaps be an angel; for she knew that there were angels among the
blessed people who were coming and going about, but had not been able yet
to find one out. She knew that this new-comer was coming to her, and
turned towards her with a smile and a throb at her heart of expectation.
But when the heavenly maiden drew nearer, her face, though it was so
fair, looked to the Pilgrim like another face, which she had known very
well,--indeed, like the homely and troubled face of the friend of whom
she had been thinking. And so she smiled all the more, and held out her
hands and said, "I am sure I know you;" upon which the other kissed her
and said, "We all know each other; but I have seen you often before
you came here," and knelt down by her, among the flowers that were
growing, just in front of some tall lilies that grew over her, and made
a lovely canopy over her head. There was something in her face that was
like a child: her mouth so soft, as if it had never spoken anything but
heavenly words, her eyes brown and golden, as if they were filled with
light. She took the little Pilgrim's hands in hers, and held them and
smoothed them between her own. These hands had been very thin and worn
before, but now, when the Pilgrim looked at them, she saw that they
became softer and whiter every moment with the touch of this immortal
youth.