"
"But afterward, Teresa! How about afterward? What happens to us after
death?"
"Afterward?" Teresa looked puzzled. "Nobody knows what happens to us
afterward. When I was a little girl, my mother who was a very pious woman,
told us that if we were very good we would go to heaven, but if we were bad
we went to hell. I believe she was right, poor woman, but it is sometime
since I have thought of religious things, and your father does not like to
have us talk about it."
"I know _that_, Teresa, but I can't help thinking about it often and often.
Was our mother a 'pious woman?'"
"Not exactly--at least, not before she became ill. Her relatives in
Villar--your Aunt and your Uncle John used to write lovely letters to her,
that spoke of God and heaven and prayer. Your mother used to sigh after
reading them, and sometimes she would read me a page or two from those
letters, and would say to me, 'My good Teresa, we both ought to think about
these things! My sister is far more happy in her hut on the mountain-side
in Waldensia than we are here in the midst of abundance. It must be
wonderful not to fear death and to love God with all our heart' When she
spoke thus to your father he laughed at her and said.
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