“ ‘Where are you going?’ asked my cousin.
“She had herself been awakened by the noise, but could not overcome her terror, knowing very well that as the front door was fastened no one would be likely to come to the room in which we were sleeping.
“ ‘I am going to open the door to my father, who has come to bid me adieu,’ I replied.
“It was then she jumped out of bed and insisted upon my lying down again. I cried for a long time and very bitterly, saying, ‘Papa is at the door, and I want to see papa again before he goes away for ever.’ ”
“And has the apparition ever returned since?” asked Lucien.
“No, although I have often called upon it; but, perhaps, Providence permitted to the innocence and purity of the child what it declines to accord to the sinfulness of the man.”
“Well, then,” said Lucien smiling, “in our family we are more fortunate than you.”
“Then you are enabled to see your deceased parents?”
“Yes, always when any great event is about to happen or has been accomplished.”