"Alas," said she, "I dare not at this hour beg a lodging for the night. Indeed, if I tell why I was turned out of doors, no one perhaps will consent to receive me."
She looked around. Against the wall, near her father's tomb, was a gravestone, very old and covered with moss. As the inscription had been effaced by time, it was left there to be used as a seat. "I will sit down on this stone," said she, "and pass the night by my father's grave. It is perhaps the last time I shall ever be here. To-morrow at daybreak, if it be God's will, I shall continue my journey, going wherever His hand may direct me."
CHAPTER XIV.
A STRANGE MEETING.
Mary sat down on the stone near the wall shaded by the thick foliage of a tree which covered her with its dark branches. Here she poured out her soul in fervent prayer to God. Suddenly she heard a sweet voice calling her familiarly by her name, "Mary, Mary!"
The late hour of night and the solitude of the graveyard and her loneliness made Mary start with fear. Looking up she saw the beautiful face and figure of a woman, dressed in a long flowing robe. Frightened and trembling, Mary was about to fly.
"Looking up she saw the beautiful face and figure of a woman."
See page 104.
"Dear Mary," said the lady, with tenderness in her voice, "do not be alarmed; I am not a spirit, but a human being like yourself. God has heard your fervent prayers, and I have come to help you. Look at me; is it possible you do not know me?"