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."

"Then you know my mother? Oh, and my dearest father too?"

"We all know each other," the lady said with a smile.

"And you? did you come to meet me--only out of kindness, though I do not
know you?" the little Pilgrim said.