'What service?' I asked.
'The invocation. Dawn is a holy time, Samuel says, and we always wait for it; 'before the morning watch,' you know,—it says so in the Bible. Why, my name means 'the dawn,' Samuel says; that's the reason he gave it to me. My real name, down in Maine, was Maria,—Maria Ann.'
'But I may not wake in time,' I said.
'Samuel will call you.'
'And if, in spite of that, I should sleep over?'
'You would not do that; it would vex him,' replied Roxana calmly.
'Do you believe in these visions, madam?' asked Raymond, as we left the table, and seated ourselves in front of the dying fire.
'Yes,' said Roxana; emphasis was unnecessary, of course she believed.
'Almost every day there is a spiritual presence, but it does not always speak. They come and hold long conversations in the winter, when there is nothing else to do; that I think is very kind of them, for in the summer Samuel can fish and his time is more occupied. There were fisherman in the Bible, you know; it is a holy calling.'
'Does Samuel ever go over to the mainland?'