She was the soul of this wholly material fragment of an existence.

Any one seeing David alone by himself would have thought him a corpse; let Seraphita enter, let her voice be heard, or a mention of her be made, and the dead came forth from his grave and recovered speech and motion.

The dry bones were not more truly awakened by the divine breath in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and never was that apocalyptic vision better realized than in this Lazarus issuing from the sepulchre into life at the voice of a young girl.

His language, which was always figurative and often incomprehensible, prevented the inhabitants of the village from talking with him; but they respected a mind that deviated so utterly from common ways,--a thing which the masses instinctively admire.
Wilfrid found him in the antechamber, apparently asleep beside the stove.

Like a dog who recognizes a friend of the family, the old man raised his eyes, saw the foreigner, and did not stir.
"Where is she ?" inquired Wilfrid, sitting down beside him.
David fluttered his fingers in the air as if to express the flight of a bird.
"Does she still suffer ?" asked Wilfrid.
"Beings vowed to Heaven are able so to suffer that suffering does not lessen their love; this is the mark of the true faith," answered the old man, solemnly, like an instrument which, on being touched, gives forth an accidental note.
"Who taught you those words ?" "The Spirit." "What happened to her last night?
Did you force your way past the Vertumni standing sentinel?
did you evade the Mammons ?" "Yes"; answered David, as though awaking from a dream.
The misty gleam of his eyes melted into a ray that came direct from the soul and made it by degrees brilliant as that of an eagle, as intelligent as that of a poet.
"What did you see ?" asked Wilfrid, astonished at this sudden change.
"I saw Species and Shapes; I heard the Spirit of all things; I beheld the revolt of the Evil Ones; I listened to the words of the Good.