Heather and Snow by George MacDonald — Read

Her dream was this: --

She sat at the communion-table in her own parish-church, with many / others, none of whom she knew. A man with piercing eyes went along the / table, examining the faces of all to see if they were fit to partake. / When he came to Kirsty, he looked at her for a moment sharply, then / said, 'That woman is dead. She has been in the snow all night. Lay her / in the vault under the church. ' She rose to go because she was dead, / and hands were laid upon her to guide her as she went. They brought her / out of the church into the snow and wind, and turned away to leave her. / But she remonstrated: 'The man with the eyes,' she said, 'gave the / order that I should be taken to the vault of the church! ' -- 'Very well,' / answered a voice, 'there is the vault! creep into it. ' She saw an / opening in the ground, at the foot of the wall of the church, and / getting down on her hands and knees, crept through it, and with / difficulty got into the vault. There all was still. She heard the wind / raving, but it sounded afar off. Who had guided her thither? One of / Steenie's storm-angels, or the Shepherd of the sheep? It was all one, / for the storm-angels were his sheep-dogs! She had been bewildered by / the terrible beating of the snow-wind, but her own wandering was / another's guiding! Beyond the turmoil of life and unutterably glad, she / fell asleep, and the dream left her. In a little while, however, it / came again.