"Dear child," said Heman, who had been listening in silence to the conversation, "perhaps your mother has been taken from you for awhile to help you to read the Guide Book. It is never safe for a pilgrim, though she may have the best parent possible, to depend upon her mother's study of the Guide Book instead of her own. You did not know that in the Book it is written:—" "'When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.' You need not have feared, or have doubted for a moment the love of the King for you. And as for forgetting you, why, a sparrow does not fall to the ground without Him knowing it." "Then will the King never forget me?" asked Iddo, comforted. "Your mother would forget you sooner than the King, my child." And before long the mother and child had met again. Belthiah said little about her experiences to her friends, but that she had passed through deep waters could not be doubted from her whole bearing, and that in the Valley of Pain she had had communion with her King, was also evident, from the radiance that lighted up her face when His name was mentioned in her hearing. "Little Iddo," she said softly, "you need fear nothing if you have the presence of the King with you. I have found my Guide Book true." "What does the Guide Book say about the Valley of Pain, mother?" "'When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' 'Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.'" "But," said Iddo, "we do not think we shall have to go through that dark valley, mother, we hope that the King will come for us instead of our going to Him." "I hope so, Iddo, and if I do not live to see that day I trust that my child will." When Amer's path diverged again he found himself toiling up a steep piece of hill, somewhat weary. He had however gathered strength from the rest in the green pastures, and steadily made his way among the rocks and stones, walking carefully. At the steepest point he saw a vision that dazzled him and made him think he was dreaming. Just in front of him was Gabrielle, dressed in white, and looking as she had looked on that evening so long ago in the Dark City. When however she turned towards him he saw that she was changed. She looked older, but her charm for him was as great as ever and he sprang to her side. "Gabrielle!" he cried, "how came you here?" "By a short cut," she answered lightly, "and not through the East Gate at all. I climbed over the wall of the City and have come in the hope of finding you." "But are you then on the way to the Radiant City?" "Certainly not," she cried, "I do not look like a pilgrim, do I?"