"Speak," I said to her; "tell me who you are."
But she shook her head.
Then it seemed to me as though dark, evil forms came near, and a man with a face like Richard Tresidder's said, "Let him die; we shall never be safe while he is alive." But the woman seemed to surround me like a mantle of light, and lo! my enemies were powerless to touch me. Time after time did murderous weapons seem to come close to me, but the form of the woman received every blow, and yet they did not harm her.
"This woman bears a charmed life," was the thought that came into my mind, and I longed greatly to know who she was.
Then another form came near. I saw my father.
"Jasper," he said, "this is your mother. She is always near you. This is a mother's joy, ever to be near her loved ones. She will protect you."
"Mother," I cried, "kiss me."
Her face came closer and closer to mine, and then for the first time I knew of a mother's love and felt a mother's kiss.
"Be brave, and pure and true, Jasper, my son," she said; "fear not even in the valley of the shadow of death. Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
After that a great darkness fell upon me again, yet through the darkness I could see the luminous form of my mother, with love shining from her eyes, and her hand pointing upward.