together in a field; and as they played, one passing by called to them: "Beware! in the corner of that field is a poisonous serpent, whose bite is death." "Alas!" said one child. "How terrible, to think that anything evil should be in a place so lovely. Let me flee from it!" and he wept, and ran from the place. "Why," said the second child, "should such a thing be here? what is the reason of it?" and he found him a safe place, and sat down to ponder on the matter. The third child picked up a stone. "Show it to me!" he said. In the Place of Spirits, where many come seeking a home, and all who earn shall find one, a band of child-spirits played about their door, singing, and crowning one another with flowers. And as they played, there drifted by a gray Shape, and stayed beside the gate, and wrung its shadowy hands. Said the eldest child to the Angel who was their guardian; "Dear, there is one seeking a home; shall we call her in?" "Oh, hush! oh, hush!" said the Angel. "You may not speak to her." "But," said the second child, "she stops at our gate, and gazes at us with mournful eyes. Let us call her in!" "Oh, hush! oh, hush!" said the Angel. "You may not look at her." "Nay!" cried the youngest; "but she holds out her arms, and makes a moan like the wind at night. Why may we not call her in?" Then the Angel wept, for she had been a woman. "Must I tell you?" she cried. "It is she who should have been your mother, and she would not." The children gazed, with calm, bright eyes. "What is a mother?" they asked. "Alas! alas!" said the Angel; and her tears fell down like rain. "Alas! alas!" moaned the gray Shape at the gate, and beat the shadow that was her breast, and trailed away in the gathering dusk. When the Little Sister went away, it was in such haste that she left her convent robes behind; and this troubled her so that she spoke of it to the Angel at the Gate. "You see," she said, "I had no idea that I was coming; I fell asleep in my cell, and woke up in this
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