"It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty," he responded, then looked as it seemed into my very soul.
I saw the dear priest's face through tears, but when I brushed them away the mist remained. He seemed remote, awful, and beautiful.
"There is a place," he said, "where souls awaiting incarnation, rest, and from that place they come, borne by messengers. A messenger was waiting in these woods, no evil spirit, my daughter, but one who came bearing a child to you. She stands august and lovely at your back, and in her arms the soul of a man-child, just on the verge of incarnation, waits at the boundary of the spirit land.
"'The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.'
"That light is all around you, and I must go. This very ground is holy. Fare you well."
* * * * * *
Two days had passed since my dear Jesse left, then through the long day I waited in the house, and the blue gloom of night swept up the glowing cliff. It was then I heard the signal shot from the rim-rock, and told my baby David that his father was coming home.