I
In the Place of Spirits, where many come seeking a home, and all who
earn shall find one, a band of child-spirits played about their door,
singing, and crowning one another with flowers. And as they played,
there drifted by a gray Shape, and stayed beside the gate, and wrung its
shadowy hands.
Said the eldest child to the Angel who was their guardian; "Dear, there
is one seeking a home; shall we call her in?"
"Oh, hush! oh, hush!" said the Angel. "You may not speak to her."
"But," said the second child, "she stops at our gate, and gazes at us
with mournful eyes. Let us call her in!"
"Oh, hush! oh, hush!" said the Angel. "You may not look at her."
"Nay!" cried the youngest; "but she holds out her arms, and makes a moan
like the wind at night. Why may we not call her in?"
Then the Angel wept, for she had been a woman.
"Must I tell you?" she cried. "It is she who should have been your
mother, and she would not."
The children gazed, with calm, bright eyes. "What is a mother?" they
asked.
"Alas! alas!" said the Angel; and her tears fell down like rain.
"Alas! alas!" moaned the gray Shape at the gate, and beat the shadow
that was her breast, and trailed away in the gathering dusk.