and wept for her blind child, but
there was none but God to hear--and she went out into the night, calling
after Lily every step she took, but her own voice came back to her, not
Lily's. She went on and on, and when she got to a narrow path, leading
along to a great waterfall, she stopped to lay her hand on her heart, to
keep it from jumping out of her body. There was a tall, blasted pine,
that had fallen over that waterfall, making a sort of slippery bridge to
pass over. What should she see, right in the middle of the blasted pine
tree, as it lay over the roaring stream, but Lily, all in white, walking
as if she had a thousand pair of eyes, instead of none, or at least none
that did her any good. The mother dared not say a word, any more than if
she were dumb, so she stood like a dead woman, that is, as still,
looking at her blind daughter, fluttering like a bird with white wings
over the black abyss.

"But what was her astonishment to behold a figure approaching Lily,
from the opposite side of the stream, all clothed in white, too, with
long, fair hair, parted from its brow, and large shining wings on its
shoulders. The face was that of a beautiful youth, and he had eyes as
soft and glorious as the moon itself, though they looked dark for all
that.

"'I come, my beloved,' cried Lily, stretching out her arms over the
water. 'I see thee--I know thee. There is no darkness now. Oh, how
beautiful thou art! The beams of thy shining wings touch my eyelids, and
little silver arrows come darting in, on every side. Take me over this
narrow bridge, lest my feet slide, and I fall into the roaring water.'

"'I cannot take thee over the bridge,' replied the youth, 'but when thou
hast crossed it, I will bear thee on my wings to a land where there is
no blindness or darkness, not even a shadow, beautiful as these shadows
are, all round us now. Walk in faith, and look not below. Press on, and
fear no evil.'

"'Oh! come back, my daughter!' shrieked the poor mother, rousing up from
the trance of fear--'come back, my Lily, and leave me not alone. Come
back, my poor blind child.'

"Lily turned back a moment, and looked at her mother, who could see her,
just as plain as day. Such a look! It was just as if a film had fallen
from off her eyes, and a soul had come into them. They were live eyes,
and they had been cold and dead before. They smiled with her smiling
lips. They had never smiled before, and the mother trembled at their
stra