earth have to bear is only a means to bring their prayers to Him who
alone can guide them to Heaven."

"Did my mother pray to Him, too?" asked Cornelli again.

"Yes, yes, Cornelli, you can be sure of that," Martha reassured her.
"Your mother was a good, pious lady. Everybody should pray to be able
to go where she is."

The two now reached the post office and gave their message to the
innkeeper and postmaster. When twilight had come and the evening bell
had long ago rung, they wandered back along the pleasant valley road
between green meadows.




CHAPTER II

UP IN THE TOP STORY



One bright morning in May, a portly gentleman, leaning heavily on a
gold-headed cane, was walking up the narrow city street. The houses
here were so high that the upper windows could scarcely be seen from
below. A steep rise in the street caused the gentleman to stop from
time to time to get his breath. Scrutinizing the house numbers, he
said to himself several times: "Not yet, not yet." Then, climbing up
still higher, he at last reached a house beside whose open door six