smoke that he puffed into the air during every pause.

"Yes, children," he began anew, "a great wonder was worked on me, an old
man. This long body here lay on the bloody ground among groaning men,
dying horses, broken gun-carriages, ammunition wagons, exploded
bombshells, and discarded weapons; but my soul--I cannot have been too
hardened a sinner in this world--my soul was permitted to soar to Heaven.
One, two, three, as fast as you can say, 'That is an apple,' or 'The fair
Ina has a pretty doll in her lap,' and it had arrived. And now--I can see
it in your eyes--you would like to know how it seems in Heaven, and God
knows I cannot blame you, for it is beautiful, marvellously beautiful,
only unfortunately I am not allowed even to attempt its description. That
must ever remain a mystery to the living because--but that is no matter,
and evil would befall me if I were to chatter."

At this point the colonel was interrupted by many expressions of
disappointment, but he was resolute, and continued in a peremptory tone:

"That will do. Description indeed is forbidden to me; but there are
certain of my experiences about which I may tell you. So listen! That
Hell lies underneath Heaven you have doubtless heard from some one or
other. Naturally the holy dead see and hear nothing of the pains of the
lost, for that would entirely spoil the joys of Paradise for them; but
now and then--I believe once a year--it is given to the blessed to look
down into Hell. There is, however, one condition in particular attached
to this privilege. When the dome which conceals Hell from the sight of
the angels is opened, it is for the relief of the condemned. God in his
mercy has decreed that the saints shall look down into the abyss in order
to tell St. Peter if they see among the damned any one from whom they
have received any benefit, or of whom they have even heard any good. If
the keeper of Heaven's gate is pleased with the generous action which the
lost soul performed while on earth, he has the power of shortening the
time of punishment, or can even pardon it altogether, and bid it enter
into Paradise.

"As for me, I arrived in Paradise on a day when Hell was open to view,
and came to know, thereby, many strange things. Ah! That was the hardest
part of my story; I trust that you have understood it?"

The narrator's glance sought the children's eyes once more; but this time
questioningly rather than peremptorily. When the young lips all cr