And so he started over: "The bishop came to me and said he thought The Advent would be June of seventy-six. This was the winter of eighteen seventy-one. He said he had a dream; and in this dream An angel stood beside him, told him so, And told him to get me and go to Jaffa, And live there, learn the people and the country, We were to live disguised the better to learn The people and the country. I was to work At my trade as a cabinet maker, he At carpentry, which was his trade, and so No one would know us, or suspect our plan. And thus we could live undisturbed and work, And get all things in readiness, that in time The Lord would send us power, and do all things. We were the messengers to go ahead And make the ways straight, so I told her of it." "You told me, yes, but my trust was as great As yours was in the bishop, little the good To tell me of it." "Well, I told you of it. And she said, 'If the Lord commands you so You must obey.' And so she knit the socks And made that trunk of things, as she has said, And in six weeks I sailed from Philadelphia." "'Twas nearer two months," said the wife. "Perhaps, Somewhere between six weeks and that. The bishop Left Springfield in a month from our first talk. I knew, for I went over when he left. And I remember how his poor wife cried, And how the children cried. He had a family Of some eight children." "Only seven then, The son named David died the year before." "Mother, you're right, 'twas seven children then. The oldest was not more than twelve, I think, And all the children cried, and at the train His congregation almost to a man Was there to see him off." "Well, one was missing. You know, you know," the wife said pregnantly. "I'll come to that in time, if you'll be still. Well, so the bishop left, and in six weeks, Or somewhere there, I started for Montreaux To meet the bishop. Shipped ahead my trunk To Jaffa as the bishop did. But now I must tell you my dream. The night before I reached Montreaux I had a wondrous dream: I saw the bishop on the station platform His face with brandy blossoms splotched and wearing His gold head cane. And sure enough next day As I stepped from the train I saw the bishop His face with brandy blossoms splotched and wearing His gold head cane. And I thought something wrong, And still I didn't act upon the thought." "I should say not," the wife broke in again.