"Hide me! Hide me! I have been a great sinner. Hide me that He may not
see me," and with one hand tried to draw the Pilgrim's dress as a veil
between her and something she feared.

"How should I hide you from Him who is everywhere? and why should I hide
you from your Father?" the little Pilgrim said. This she said almost
with indignation, wondering that any one could put more trust in her,
who was no better than a child, than in the Father of all. But then she
said, "Look in your heart and you will see you are not so much afraid as
you think. This is how you have been accustomed to frighten yourself.
But look now into your heart. You thought you were very ill at first,
but not now; and you think you are afraid, but look in your heart--"

There was a silence, and then the woman raised her head with a wonderful
look, in which there was amazement and doubt, as if she had heard some
joyful thing but dared not yet believe that it was true. Once more she
hid her face in her hands, and once more raised it again. Her eyes
softened; a long sigh or gasp, like one taking breath after drowning,
shook her breast. Then she said, "I think that is true. But if I am not
afraid it is because I am--bad. It is because I am hardened. Oh, should
not I fear Him who can send me away into--the lake that burns--into the
pit--" And here she gave a great cry, but held the little Pilgrim all
the while with her eyes, which seem to plead and ask for better news.

Then there came into the Pilgrim's heart what to say, and she took the
woman's hand again and held it between her own. "That is the change,"
she said, "that comes when we come here. We are not afraid any more of
our Father. We are not all happy. Perhaps you will not be happy at
first. But if he says to you go--even to that place you speak of--you
will know that it is well, and you will not be afraid. You are not