convictions--convictions which had long since found their chosen
resting-place in the mystic doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. The
only books which she read were the works of the Swedish Seer. She
mixed up Swedenborg's teachings on angels and departed spirits,
on love to one's neighbor and purity of life, with wild fancies,
and kindred beliefs of her own; and preached the visionary
religious doctrines thus derived, not only in the bailiff's
household, but also on proselytizing expeditions to the
households of her humble neighbors, far and near.

Under her son's roof--after the death of his wife--she reigned a
supreme power; priding herself alike on her close attention to
her domestic duties, and on her privileged communications with
angels and spirits. She would hold long colloquys with the spirit
of her dead husband before anybody who happened to be
present--colloquys which struck the simple spectators mute with
terror. To her mystic view, the love union between Mary and me
was something too sacred and too beautiful to be tried by the
mean and matter-of-fact tests set up by society. She wrote for us
little formulas of prayer and praise, which we were to use when
we met and when we parted, day by day. She solemnly warned her
son to look upon us as two young consecrated creatures, walking
unconsciously on a heavenly path of their own, whose beginning
was on earth, but whose bright end was among the angels in a
better state of being. Imagine my appearing before such a woman
as this, and telling her with tears of despair that I was
determined to die, rather than let my uncle part me from little
Mary, and you will no longer be astonished at the hospitality
which threw open to me the sanctuary of Dame Dermody's own room.