‘It is but for a little time,’ said her companions. ‘When we have reached this place we remember no more the anguish.’--‘But to them in their trouble it does not seem a little time,’ the Pilgrim said. And in her heart there rose a great longing. Oh that He would send me! that I might tell my brethren--not like the poor man in the land of darkness, of the gloom and misery of that distant place, but, a happier message, of the light and brightness of this, and how soon all pain would be over. She would not put this into a prayer, for she knew that to refuse a prayer is pain to the Father, if in His great glory any pain can be. And then she reasoned with herself and said, ‘What can I tell them, except that all will soon be well? and this they know, for our Lord has said it: but I am like them, and I do not understand.’ One fair morning while she turned over these thoughts in her mind there suddenly came towards her one whom she knew as a sage, of the number of those who know many mysteries and search into the deep things of the Father. For a moment she wondered if perhaps he came to reprove her for too many questionings, and rose up and advanced a little towards him with folded hands and a thankful heart, to receive the reproof if it should be so--for whether it were praise, or whether it were blame, it was from the Father, and a great honour and happiness to receive. But as he came towards her he smiled and bade her not to fear. ‘I am come,’ he said, ‘to tell you some things you long to know, and to show you some things that are hidden to most. Little sister, you are not to be charged with any mission----’ ‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘oh no. I was not so presuming----’ ‘It is not presuming to wish to carry comfort to any soul; but it is permitted to me to open up to you, so far as I may, some of the secrets. The secrets of the Father are all beautiful, but there is sorrow in them as well as joy; and Pain, you know, is one of the great angels at the door.’ ‘Is his name Pain? and I took him for Consolation!’ the little Pilgrim said. ‘He is not Consolation: he is the schoolmaster whose face is often stern. But I did not come to tell you of him whom you know: I am going to take you--back,’ the wise man said. ‘Back!’ She knew what this meant, and a great pleasure, yet mingled with fear, came into her mind. She hesitated and looked at him, and did not know how to accept, though she longed to do so, for at the same time she was afraid. He smiled when he saw the alarm in her face. ‘Do you think,’ he said, ‘that you are to go this journey on your own charges? Had you insisted, as some do, to go at all hazards, you might indeed have feared; and even now I cannot promise that you will not feel the thorns of the earth as you pass: but you will be cared for, so that no harm can come.’ ‘Ah,’ she said wistfully, ‘it is not for harm----’ and could say nothing more.