But as we laid the woman down, apparently lifeless—although I could not say for certain she was—Jesus bent over her and whispered something. With a look of compassion that not even an angel of heaven could equal, he seemed to be asking this beaten, brutalized mother and wife a question. Was it a question that his whisper carried across that mysterious silence which Death creates for all of us? I do not know. But I do know what I saw.

Jesus wiped the blood from her face. He put his hand on her head. She smiled, opened her eyes, and sighed. Then she looked calmly and gladly at Jesus, and I saw her raise his hand to her lips. Jesus smiled, but lifted his finger as if in caution. The woman closed her eyes again, breathing like a tired child, and fell asleep.

We went out of the room, and Jesus took the little girl, sat down by the couch, and sang a soothing song. Such a song, Rachel! No one can ever copy that! But if the child was hurt, she did not complain. She smiled up at Jesus, and once even raised her hand and caressed his face. And he smiled back and sang his song. Where had he learned it? Oh, Rachel, I feel afraid and astounded when I think of all these things.

While all this was happening, the man Clay Ross had lifted up his head and was talking to Richard. Evidently Richard had spoken to him and told him a little about who we were and why we were present. As I sat down near them, I noticed that the workers on the wreaths and doll dresses were at work again, as if nothing had happened out of the ordinary for them.

One of the men had gone over to where the drunken man still lay, and dragged him like a bag of old clothes over into a corner, protesting all the time at the ruin and loss occasioned by the breaking of the paper boxes and the destruction of the material.

But when I had come over to Richard, I was fascinated by what Clay Ross was saying. Clay Ross! Do you recognize, Rachel, the name of one of New York’s most noted promoters and contractors of labor? What was he saying? It was incredible, but the truest thing he ever said.