“Edward intends to kill you with a knife. He will come into your room, and you must awake and charge him with the crime, and say to him that his sister came from heaven to tell you!”
She started as if by a blow, and with a horrified expression, she sprang upright.
“Who is here?” she cried. “Who spoke to me? I have had a fearful dream, so vivid that I thought it reality.”
She sank again on the pillow, and there were light footsteps at the door, which slowly swung open, and the brother entered. The mother waited only a moment when she arose and addressed him in the words of her dream. It came so suddenly that he admitted his intentions, and pleaded for forgiveness. He had been made the victim of bad men, and if he could escape from them he might be saved. By nature he was not so bad, but he was weak.
Leaving them to each other, I started again for our home, my heart full of gladness, for I had followed the advice of the angel, and expected to thereby escape my companions. Judge of my surprise when on looking back, I saw a new form, more ugly than any of the others, the result of this act from which I had expected so much. As I gazed in despair, the angel came again, and with a smile said to me:
“It was a selfish act!”
“Selfish?” I asked.
“Aye; you had not the good of the woman or the salvation of the son or the happiness of the daughter at heart. You had only your own pleasure and gain. You would thereby relieve yourself of a burden. The world is ruined by such benevolence. You will have a long and weary road if you travel in that direction.”
“I am a fool,” I said, overwhelmed by my imbecility and want of spiritual understanding. “What can I do?” I implored.
“If I direct you, there will be no merit. You must determine for yourself.”