behold the slaughter of my children, their disgrace, and their captivity?' . . . Then God cried: 'For thy sake will I remember thy children and spare them.' . . ."
"Would you like to know," Gudule suddenly cried, with uplifted voice, "what this Sechûs is like? It has the form of an angel, and it stands near the Throne of the Almighty. . . . But, since the days of Rachel, our mother, it is the Sechûs of a mother that finds most favor in God's eyes. When a mother dies, her soul straightway soars heavenward, and there it takes its place amid the others.
"'Who art thou?' asks God. 'I am the Sechûs of a mother,' is the answer, 'of a mother who has left children behind her on earth.' 'Then do thou stand here and keep guard over them!' says God. And when it is well with the children, it is the Sechûs of a mother which has caused them to prosper, and when evil days befall them . . . it is again the Angel who stands before God and pleads: 'Dost Thou forget that these children no longer have a mother?' . . . and the evil is averted. . . ."
Gudule's voice had sunk to a mere whisper. Her eyes closed, her head fell back, her breathing became slower and more labored. "Are you still there, children?" she softly whispered.
Anxiously they bent over her. Then once again she opened her eyes.
