ild."_

I looked out again at the lonely night landscape.

There, in mid-air, shining softly out of the dark background of the
trees, still hovered the starry apparition of the child.

Advancing without conscious will of my own, I crossed the threshold of
the door. The softly glowing vision of the child moved away before me
among the trees. I followed, like a man spellbound. The apparition,
floating slowly onward, led me out of the wood, and past my old home,
back to the lonely by-road along which I had walked from the market-town
to the house. From time to time, as we two went on our way, the bright
figure of the child paused, hovering low in the cloudless sky. Its
radiant face looked down smiling on me; it beckoned with its little
hand, and floated on again, leading me as the Star led the Eastern sages
in the olden time.

I reached the town. The airy figure of the child paused, hovering over
the house at which I had left my traveling-carriage in the evening.
I ordered the horses to be harnessed again for another journey. The
postilion waited for his further directions. I looked up. The child's
hand was pointing southward, along the road that led to London. I gave
the man his instructions to return to the place at which I had hired
the carriage. At intervals, as we proceeded, I looked out through
the window. The bright figure of the child still floated on before me
gliding low in the cloudless sky. Changing the horses stage by stage, I
went on till the night ended--went on till the sun rose in the eastern
heaven. And still, whether it was dark or whether it was light, the
figure of the child floated on before me in its changeless and mystic
light. Mile after mile, it still led the way southward, till we left the
country behind us, and passing through the din and turmoil of the great
city, stopped under the shadow of the ancient Tower, within view of the
river that runs by it.

The postilion came to the carriage door to ask if I had further need of
his services. I had called to him to stop, when I saw the figure of the
child pause on its airy course. I looked upward again. The child's hand
pointed toward the river. I paid the postilion and left the carriage.
Floating on before me, the child led the way to a wharf crowded with
travelers and their luggage. A vessel lay along-side of the wharf ready
to sail. The child led me on board the vessel and paused again, hovering
over me in the smoky air.

I looked up. The c