Welcome, y'all, and thank you for attending my talk today titled Collecting Cans, A Bridge Less Traveled. A quick note I'd like to share before we hop in. I've captured links to many of the resources mentioned in this talk as a slide near the end of this deck, and I'll paste them into the Discord chat as well. Quick overview of who I am. I am Pierce Berry from Austin, Texas. I am a former Metasploit developer and former manager of Metasploit development at Rapid 7. I find myself currently doing security research, which I'm enjoying very much. And in full disclosure, I'm also very much a newb when it comes to aerospace stuff, but I do enjoy flying and following the progress in spacing, technology, and travel. I also enjoy learning about how we've come to where we are with respect to things aerospace, reading books like Skunk Works and also Hidden Figures and dragging my family to both locations of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. And if you look closely behind the SR-71 Blackbird there, you can see the space shuttle discovery hiding tucked in the back. And that's me. So, cans. Cans is the controller area network bus, right? What's the deal with the bridge? Well, I'll tell you this much. The bridge we'll be talking about today is not any of these bridges. In actuality, the bridge we'll be talking about today is the Metasploit hardware bridge, which is actually software and is part of the Metasploit framework package. It acts as a conduit to connect Metasploit framework sessions to new and exciting places in the physical world. No longer bound to the world of traditional network connections. And you can have concurrent sessions connecting to different devices via the hardware bridge just as you do for your usual Metasploit shells. And fortunately, unfortunately, it is not actively and actively maintained portion of the Metasploit framework these days. But the beauty and promise of open source software, which Metasploit framework very much is, the code is available and usable still. It may contain vulnerabilities or brokenness. So use it your own risk and please don't pester the rapids of the developers to work on it. The post there at the bottom right was the announcement blog post by the hardware bridge creator himself, Craig Smith, or Zombie Craig, as some of you all might know him. Y'all also might know Craig through the car hacking village or some of his other work, such as his book on no starch press, the car hacker's handbook. And Craig's work with the open garages.org is also something he's noted for. Craig was the director of transportation, security and research rapid seven when he created the Metasploit hardware bridge. And I had the pleasure of working alongside him in a small capacity to help provide code reviews and testing. As you can expect, the primary focus of the hardware bridge was initially cars and car related things. Let's hold up just a second to make sure we're not getting ahead of ourselves and take a quick moment and answer the question, what is Metasploit framework? Metasploit framework is an open source penetration testing framework created in 2003, originally written in Pearl and ported over to Ruby a few years later. It runs on many operating systems and is included in some security focus distributions. It has a command line interface and it supports a handful of module types with the goal of making it easy for contributors around the world to craft new functionality, which can be easily integrated into the framework. For others to use. It even allows you to write modules and languages other than Ruby. Some module types help discover systems on a network. Others exploit a vulnerability on a target. And others can help elevate your privileges or exfiltrate data from a target. Modules can do many cool things. Many interactions with compromised targets are over sessions, which themselves can be thought of as a usable connection to a compromised target. The Metasploit instance can support multiple simultaneous sessions, allowing the user to switch between them as needed. And Metasploit remains, to this day, a popular tool for pen testing, red teaming, hacking, and research. And the Metasploit hardware bridge was added to the framework ecosystem to help provide a path to different targets in the physical world. As mentioned a few slides back, the primary focus of the Metasploit hardware bridge was initially cars and car related things. Like the brute forcing module targeting static key garage door opener systems or fuzzing data against specific can IDs of a vehicle's CAN bus or the pyrotechnical device deployment tool, PDT, which ultimately may not be quite as exciting as you think, but is still a personal favorite of mine. But how does the hardware bridge logic allow these Metasploit framework modules to exit the matrix into the real world? Let's do a quick rundown of the major aspects of the hardware bridge design. First of all, it's open source. Just like Metasploit framework is. The code is out there in public repos and available to all. Second, it uses modules. Again, capitalizing on the soul of Metasploit's coolness and looking to make it easy for others to create new modules themselves and add onto the bridge, as it were, by extending that pattern to include hardware. Being a part of the Metasploit framework, the hardware bridge uses many of the same commands and concepts that Metasploit users are already familiar with, looking to make it an easy lift for existing users to pick up and go. This usage familiarity also extends to sessions, as we discussed a few slides back, by providing the ability to have multiple devices connected to the hardware bridge simultaneously, allowing a user to switch between devices in the same fashion you would switch between shell or interpreter sessions in the Metasploit framework console. And for folks new to Metasploit, there are many resources out there for new users picking up Metasploit for the first time, just for what that's worth. And the hardware bridge follows a server client model, where the hardware device is used in the connection to the outside world rely on some relay service logic that presents a REST API interface, which the hardware bridge logic and Metasploit will connect with. This provides an abstraction, which is not centered around a usual required physical connection between your computer and the device you are hacking, rather more similar to how Metasploit can interact with compromised targets, whether they are local or remote in nature. Lastly, the hardware bridge makes it easy to utilize or leverage other open source software in order to work smarter, not harder, when adding new capability to the hardware bridge. Some examples of open source software that the hardware bridge modules currently use include Socket Can for CAN bus interactions, RF Cat for RF interactions, and Killer B for ZigBee interactions. Use of these open source libraries and tools makes it easy for Metasploit users to add support for any other of their hacking devices, which are already supported by these existing open source tools. And on that note, some of what we'll see today may not be plug-and-play ready for use with airplanes or other flight craft, but might be close and maybe someone here might be inspired to close that gap. So one technology the Metasploit hardware bridge provides connectivity to is the CAN bus. A few quick basics around the controller area network, or CAN bus. It was introduced in the 1980s by Bosch with a focus on automobiles. It has a simple two-wire implementation, which reduces both installation complexity and cost. And these days, CAN buses appear in many places, including aircraft systems, anywhere from in-flight entertainment to flight control systems. A quick little side note here. Patrick Kiley gave a cool talk here at the Aerospace Village at Defcon 27 about some CAN bus research he had been doing at the time. It's really worth checking out the YouTube recording of it, and there's also a detailed report of his research on Rapid7's website. Those links will be in the resource section of this talk. CAN bus is still really common in automobiles. In fact, it is part of the OBD2 standard plug connection that cars and trucks sold in the US have been required to have for the past 25 years, and required for the past 20 or so years for cars and trucks sold in Europe. And the Metasploit hardware bridge works with some of the most popular OBD2 reader or scanner devices, which include or are compatible with the Elm 327 chip. So let's see a demo that actually requires no special hardware to run. For what it's worth, I'm running this demo in a single OBD2-1604 VM instance, split across two terminals with a recent build of Metasploit framework. I don't necessarily recommend OBD2-1604 these days, as the official standard support for that release sunset of this past April, but it was something I had handy, and it was what the original testing that I did with hardware bridge was done under. I expect that what you'll see here today should work with newer and other Linux distros. In the lower window here, we'll first utilize the socket CAN driver to allow us to create a virtual CAN bus for our testing. This virtual CAN bus will appear as a network interface called VCAN 0. This module that we loaded was already present in my OBD2 installation. I did not need to go find it somewhere. It's very convenient. And once we have the network interface loaded and configured for their virtual CAN bus, we'll run a tool called CAN dump, which prints any traffic that appears on our new VCAN 0 interface to standard out. And in the upper window, we'll start up an instance of the Metasploit console. And first thing here, once we've got the console spun up, is that we'll use the local hardware bridge module to interact with our virtual CAN bus. This will act as the relay code that will relay messages and commands and data between our session, hardware bridge session we will create with our device. In this case, it's the virtual CAN bus. Now we will switch over to use the hardware bridge connect module to connect to that local hardware bridge relay service. And you'll see the disclaimer and warning here that you are about to leave the matrix, which is true, except we're just using virtual CAN bus, so it's not as impactful in this demo, less risk. We can see from our sessions that we have a hardware bridge type session and we can interact with it by specifying the dash I option and a 1 to tell it what number session we want to interact with. We get a hardware bridge prompt similar to the interpreter, if you all have used the interpreter before, and we can do help and see a list of our supported commands. And now that we've established a session between the hardware bridge and relay service, we'll run a sample module after we actually list the supported buses first. So we see that there is a V CAN bus that we can use. So now we'll run a sample module that floods the CAN bus with packets, which will make a 2006 Malibu's temperature gauge appear that the vehicle is overheating. Again, in this case, we're not actually connected to a 2006 Malibu's CAN bus, but if we were, we would see the temperature gauge saying it's overheating at this point. You can see those packets on the CAN bus or our virtual CAN bus in the lower window from that CAN dump output. Just a quick note on module types. A POST module, like the Malibu overheat module that we just ran here, is a type of module designed to be run after a session to the target or target device has been established, or put another way, POST exploitation, though we didn't need to actually exploit anything to gain access to our virtual CAN bus. Something else neat about using the socket CAN virtual CAN bus driver is that you can take packet captures via standard tools like TCP dump or wire charge. Here's a capture of the CAN bus traffic. Here's a capture of CAN bus traffic from the Malibu overheating module we just ran, as viewed in wire chart. This ability allows you to see what is going on on the wire, and can also be helpful when doing hardware bridge module development and testing. So that demo operated in a fairly safe space using the virtual CAN bus and all. When doing this sort of thing in real life, you'd follow the same steps I showed in the demo, but using an OBD2 scanner that contains an Elm 327 or compatible chip, and you'd swap the local bridge module step for running a script in the Metasploit tool slash hardware directory called Elm 327 underscore relay. The original PR for this code has a nice step by step for going this route, as well as the virtual CAN bus route I showed in the demo. And I've included a link to it in the resource links. For clarity here, both of the picture devices use an Elm 327 or compatible chip, and should both be supported by the hardware bridge. The one on the left uses a USB connection to your computer or laptop. Whereas the one on the right uses a Bluetooth connection. And disclaimer, I'm not a hardware guy. And my inexperience in aviation doesn't help me here. But I'd like to believe that there is an easy enough lift to either use existing devices, which are supported by the hardware bridge, like these pictured here, to connect into an airplane's CAN bus or to add support for other devices, which are better designed, better suited for connecting into an airplane's CAN bus to the hardware bridge. Another type of technology that Metasploit hardware bridge provides connectivity to is RF. And though I may be green to aerospace, I do know that aerospace does use radio communications. The Metasploit hardware bridge has a few RF modules which support the yardstick one device. As the website for the yardstick one states, the yardstick one is a sub one gigahertz wireless test tool controlled by your computer. It connects via standard USB and has capabilities as broken down there above, also taken from the website. The yardstick one is manufactured and sold by Great Scott Gadgets and can be picked up online from a number of retailers. Let's take a look at several ways the hardware bridge can work with the yardstick one to play in the RF space. The above screenshot shows what my Ubuntu VM kernel logs display when I plug in a yardstick one into my USB port. You can see the product and manufacturer data there align with our expectations of what we just plugged in. When using the yardstick one with the hardware bridge, we run the RF cat underscore MSF relay script in place of the local hardware bridge relay that you saw in the previous demo. As the name implies, RF cat underscore MSF relay is designed to relay commands from frameworks hardware bridge to a connected RF cat supported device like a yardstick one by setting up the locally listening rest endpoint that the hardware bridge can connect to and use for communicating commands and data to the connected yardstick one device. Sharp eyes here may have caught that this Ubuntu VM is an 1804 flavor. I had originally tried to get this working in my 1604 VM but discovered that the Python 3 version there was not current enough for all the required package dependencies of RF cat underscore MSF relay. So I moved to 1804. Sadly, I discovered that there now exists a type error in the message passing between the hardware bridge and RF cat MSF relay likely due to the industry shift over to Python 3. As I'm certain we were using Python 2 in the original hardware bridge development four and a half years back. While this might be an easy enough item to fix, I didn't leave myself enough wiggle room to dig in before the talk deadline. So I'll offer a screen grab here of the output on the hardware bridge side from my original testing. As you can see here, similar to the last demo, we use the hardware bridge connect module to create our connection to the relay, in this case the RF cat MSF relay. We are running from the previous slide. Once connected, we see a new session of type hardware bridge has been created and that it's related to an RF transceiver device, i.e. our yardstick one. We can then, same as the last demo, interact with that session using the sessions command with the dash i option to specify which session number we want to interact with. And from there, we get the hardware bridge prompt where we can request status and see what we are connected to. You see that we are connected to an operational yardstick one, as well as some firmware and hardware information about the connected yardstick itself. This screenshot is of some module documentation for the fairly simple, simple transmitter hardware bridge post module which landed with the original PR, which again is linked in the resource slide at the end of the deck here. This shows a next step that we could do once we've connected to the RF cat MSF relay had I had the messaging issue worked out in time for this recording. In the above, the hardware bridge transmitter post module options listed there can be used with the transmitter module to transmit on a given frequency for a given number of seconds. And you can see what an example run of that module looks like at the bottom there. Pretty straightforward little module which was ported over from code by Andrew Mohawk, I believe. Another post hardware module, post hardware bridge module related to RF is the RF ponon module, ported over from a utility of the same name that was authored by Corey Harding. This module is described as a generic AMOK brute forcer with PWM translations. And this code has been demonstrated to work against static key garage door openers. So one could say that successful execution of some metasploit commands could literally open doors for you. So a quick look at what hardware bridge post modules currently exist in the official Metasploit GitHub repo. Some of these we discussed today, some we did not, but they're all there in the public repo. And again, the Metasploit hardware bridge currently is an un-maintained project within Metasploit framework. So please don't heavily bother the Rapid7 Metasploit developers about it. But it's all open source and it might be of some interest for some of y'all to use or expand upon. And that's it for my talk today. I'd like to thank y'all for listening and to thank you to the Aerospace Village for having me. I'll be around in the Discord chat to answer any questions anybody has. And as promised, here's some of the links to resources I cited today. And hopefully I've already dropped these in the Discord chat here by now. But if I haven't, I should be doing that right this second. Y'all have a safe and fun rest of your DEF CON.


you have to plant new seeds of closure in order to have growth. That's what I feel like the energy is playing out here for you, okay? You're having to be the one to do it, but we've got, you know, but you're like ready to get into another relationship and start over, but you're not pursuing anything with anybody. Secrets again. Virgo, I have to tell you, I feel like somebody is, you are temporarily separated from somebody and there's an energy of, like, both people are in separation. They don't know why. Not fully. Like you, you know why, but you don't know why something went the way it went. And another person, it's the same energy. And I feel like for you, Virgo, I feel like you're really just trying to erase everything. You're trying to erase the past so that you can move on. But I feel like the reason, why is my thinking, the reason why you're having this struggle to do that is because you're trying to erase it as if it didn't exist and just put it out of your mind constantly, but you're not going to heal that way. Primarily because the only way you're going to heal that past energy is if you accept it. You are struggling to accept something that you have no answer to. And the more you seek the answer, the more confused you get. And then the more confused you get, the more you spiral and then you're lost and then you don't know what to do. And then you just try to erase it completely. And that way, you don't have to worry about it, right? Sorry, I'm trying to get my light on here. I feel like what the problem is, if you want to heal, you have to accept the situation. You have to accept that you may not have an answer or you have to accept that you got an answer and you don't know why something went the way it did, but that's your answer. That's the answer, right? In order for you to be able to move into a new relationship with someone because I feel like, remember I said to you, I don't know why you're not, why you're making somebody else do something. I feel it's because there's a fear, because you don't want something, you don't want to get hurt again, I guess. That's the word Spirit's giving me. But what I have to say to you, Virgo, is partnership requires two people, okay, to work independently and then interdependently with each other. Okay. If you're in a position of needing to make, I mean, show up in your bloody stumps, fine, but we have to both be in agreement that we're going to work on this partnership together, right? If you're in a position where you not only need someone to show up on their bloody stumps, but you need them to walk around like that for the rest of their life or time in the partnership with you, that's probably not going to work. At some point, you're going to have to forgive. At some point, you're going to have to forgive and forget. Not to forget so that you make yourself vulnerable to the point where you could get hurt again, but forget past transgressions because that's just grudge holding. That's what that's what's meant by that, at least from my understanding, when we say forgive and forget, it means I forgive you and I will forget the grievance. I don't forget what happened, but I forget the grievance because holding a grudge will only be cancer to your soul. Holding a grudge against somebody else is equivalent of drinking poison and hoping the other person will die from it. It's senseless. It makes no sense to hold a grudge, right? So I don't know why Spirit has given me all this information to share with you here, but it's pretty deep and psychological. So I do feel like we've got two people here. And I feel like there's love is definitely on the horizon for you, but I feel like it's really not going to come fully until you can get into a position of what I was just talking about, accepting the situation for giving and forgetting the grievance and moving on for love to blossom in your life. If not, you're still, you could still be replaying those old tapes subconsciously. And you know, unless you bring your subconscious to the forefront, it's always going to direct your every move and your every path. So it's really important to get deep in there and bring your subconscious to the forefront because a lot of time it's the subconscious that is dictating the natural flow of things versus the conscious which makes clear and precise decisions. Okay, healing starts underneath, not on the surface. Right? Let me see. What else do we have here? Okay, four of pentacles.  Okay, yep. Lack of intuition, lack of being able to trust the self. It's there. It's there. But it's it's very immature energy. Okay, it's kind of like what is my intuition? What is it saying? What does it mean? What does it want? I'm trying to really hear it and balance it and temper it.  But I also feel like at the same time you're blocking that from happening because and I'm not sitting in a position to judge. It just feels like you're not sure yet what it is that you want and what direction you want to go with your life. You know, it's almost as if I don't deserve to be happy in some way. Even though like consciously, you know, you do some are deep down, you might block that or really don't believe that. Right? And that's why the Empress was there to tell you to be in your abundance. Tell yourself or mind yourself that you deserve to be happy.  Some of you might just be feeling at times that you're too old to be having fun. Maybe you were with someone that was extremely immature. And you wanted them to be a bit more grown up. And in some strange way, their immaturity might have been refreshing because you had the opportunity to feel like a kid. So now you don't want to go back to that. In other words, you don't want to. Now you might be seeing as having fun and being playful. Okay, they just said you were playful before and careless and enthusiastic. And when you met someone and that relationship didn't go well, it didn't work out or something happened. And you're saying to yourself, not all of you, but some of you might be saying to yourself, well, if I'd been more mature, things wouldn't have fallen apart. Or if they had been more mature, things wouldn't have fallen apart.   Get out there.  A relationship not working out is because the relationship didn't work out. It just didn't work out. That's it. It just didn't work out. Not every single relationship you get in is going to work out.  Okay, that's what I feel like because those those, you might be just thinking too much or you're just like, Well, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what direction I want to go. I don't know where I want to have my fun. I feel like you you, I feel like you're tied in too deeply to I feel like you got lost somewhere along the line. So my advice here, maybe go down to the park and just get on the seesaw for like an hour.  I feel like you need to get yourself expose yourself to more to some fun, whatever that might be, however minimal that might be, I don't care if you just want to go fly a kite something very simple to get yourself reacclimated because I feel like things in the past were very, very serious or got very serious for you. And you were just too your mind was too involved. Okay, page of ones is here to tell you forget about thinking just go out and do.  Okay, page of ones doesn't think about it. Just as enthusiastic like a child and just goes. All right, let me see what else is going on here for you. Alright, so you have your eight of pentacles. Yep, clarity coming. You work too much for ago. Hey, I'm a Virgo. It's trust me when I tell you it's not me. I don't work all that much. But when I do work, I'm very intense with my work and I feel like maybe that's something here. You're you're very good Virgo at your day to day. You're very good. You're very successful. You have many victories in your life and you will continue to have victories in the career sector. But I feel like for you career finances, you really need to put that aside this week and really just go out and have a good time with whatever you're doing. If you're traveling, you're spending time with family and friends, you just need to give yourself a day off or break, I feel. But we're talking about love here. So the person so I don't know. I'm not so sure that there's somebody here coming back into your life. Okay, because I don't feel like somebody coming back. Well, we do have a reunion here. So it is possible. I'm not so sure. Like this person may try to re attempt to re engage with you but I don't necessarily feel like you're you're going to even realize it because I for some reason I feel like you're you're not going to be paying attention. I don't know what that means. Or you're not going to see something somebody trying to engage with you re engage with you you're not going to see it. I feel like your mind is focused somewhere else during this time period here from the 15 to the 20 second, your mind is just elsewhere. And you're going to miss something. Yeah, I feel like there's an energy here of somebody. Okay, they're just saying there's a Virgo here who doesn't want to see something doesn't want to see something doesn't want to see someone trying to re engage with them. I don't know. Is that you? Is that one of you here? Some I'm just feeling like a real hesitancy boundaries up. walls up not trying to re engage with anyone dukes up. Okay, but I do feel like somebody is going to try to re engage here with you. But why Oh, to bring peace and balance and harmony and positive vibes and sunshine and joy and success back into a relationship. Okay. Hmm. Well, you know, Leo Sagittarius energy Libra Aquarius Gemini. I mean, all the signs are here in these readings. I do feel like there will be some kind of like an attempt to re engage somebody because there's a ghosting energy and I feel like somebody wants to make something right here. I'm not so sure though how you know, you're still going through your change here. Okay. We have Libran energy here. There's ghosting. Definitely. And somebody wants to come in and make something right as far as a lack of commitment in a past type of connection. Okay. Oh, boy, Virgo. Okay, yep, you're just gonna be like, yep, but I got left out in the cold. So this is not something I feel like you're going to respond to with jovial glee and happy and that kind of thing. I feel like you're gonna be a bit hesitant, but you know, it's cold back there. I don't know if I want to go back to that cold weather, you know, we got sunshine. Somebody's trying to bring you sunshine. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. Virgo, it's not cold. It's not cold. Look, it's sunny. It's sunny here. Here's some sun. You know, I don't know, Virgo, you're very hesitant. Like I said, you're very hesitant. You're you really do want to have like a good deep partnership with someone where two people come together. And I do foresee that like in the last reading, I said there is going to be somebody new coming into your life, especially at the end of April here. But you're like, you're betwixt in between in some ways, because I feel like somebody comes in who really knows what they want, and they will pursue you. And I feel like it's gonna make you happy, but you haven't let go of that past person, because you haven't accepted it fully, and you have to, you have to accept that even not getting an answer is the answer. Okay, but this person is going to try to be coming back in, but I don't feel like it's going to trip you up because I don't know that you're going to see their reengagement for some reason. Why isn't Virgo going to see this reengagement? Oh, because this person is going to come in very sly. Yeah, through like a back door that you're not even going to think to notice slipping into your house. I don't mean that. Something gets sent. So it feels like there's some type of communication of some sort. Okay, they just said, you're gonna, you're going to, okay, this is really far out, you're gonna get some kind of telepathic message from someone where you're like, where did that come from? Okay, I don't know that's not going to resonate for everyone. But some of you here do have that capability. And I feel like some of you are going to get some kind of telepathic message. And for others, there's some type of communication that's going to come through in some strange way that you won't be familiar with. And therefore you will miss it. Okay, and you're going to miss it, I feel like, because you're struggling with your, you're struggling with your own stuff.  So we have Sagittarius showing up here in Taurus. Yeah, there's definitely somebody coming in to reconcile with you. Definitely. I don't I feel like you're gonna miss it. You're gonna just be look at how he's walking. Okay, like, he can't see anything over here. He's looking down his eyes are kind of closed. Everything's blocking here. You know, I feel like you're going to miss there's communication coming in. If you want to have reconciliation with someone, then you're going to have to keep your eyes peeled because I don't feel like someone's going to come in and be very direct with you about trying to reconnect with you in some way, you know, but as far as like the new love comes in, I feel like this is completely separate. I do want to ask how you're going to meet this new person. Okay, so we want to take a look and see how are you going to meet this new person? Hold on a second. I want to get a different deck. How is Virgo going to meet this new person coming in? Virgo's new person? How is Virgo going to meet? In what way is for Virgo going to meet this new person coming in? You guys, if there's like a sound like a staticky sound in the video, I've noticed some people have complained about that and I've listened back a couple times and I've heard it. I think that my microphone was way too close to my laptop. So right now, as I'm recording this, I can't tell if it's staticky. But if it is, please be patient with me as I'm trying to sort that out. And my apologies if it's too staticky. I'll try to when I when I edit the video, try to reduce the background sound. Okay, how is Virgo going to meet their new person? Okay. Oh, hmm. Okay, they're just saying, now let me get it. There's a couple messages here. Number one, the first message is some of you are going to meet this new person at a child's sporting event or game. Okay. A child doesn't it would mean offspring. Whatever age a child is, it doesn't matter. It's just one of your if you have children, it could be a niece or a nephew as well, or cousin or grandchild, you know, it's just somebody way like way younger than you. Okay, at some type of an event, some type of game, something where someone receives like a trophy, or an award of some sort, it could be a graduation as well. Because there's a victory here. Some type of like an award or a ceremony, or where someone receives maybe it could be college or some type of any kind of graduation ceremony. That's where I feel like some of you are going to meet this person. Okay. Let me see. Is there another message for the other group of Virgos where they're going to meet their person? Okay, they just screamed out to me veterinary school. I don't even know where that's coming from veterinary school. Okay. Or it's something to do with animals. So it could be like apprenticeship working in a shelter. Okay. Hold on. They're giving me training. It's something to do with animals. I keep hearing this animal thing. I can't help it. Oh, okay. For others. Okay. So for others, this is either training. It's training, strengths training. They're telling me in a, so I guess wherever strength training is done, I guess for a gym, fitness type of situation, maybe meeting someone in a gym or a fitness trainer, something like that. Okay, because we do have strength and we do have training here. And we do have the king of ones and the queen of ones.  I know somebody will be like, but my past person was that, well, you know, what it is what it is. So yeah, okay. That's something to do with animals. And I'm also hearing they're they're telling me strength training. Okay. Oh, I like, no, sorry about that. Okay, so those are your two, your two ways. Okay. So the way it works is you're either going to meet your person at one of them or the other, or you won't meet them in this isn't your reading. Okay, so it's kind of up in the air. Let's get some love messages here for you. Virgo. What are the love messages for Virgo from April 15 through the 22nd, April 15 through the 22nd for Virgo, sun, moon rising or Venus. Let me see. Okay, you deserve love. You are lovable.  There's a Sagittarius. I want you to know that you deserve love and you're lovable as well. Healing family issues. Very important message during this week. Your love life benefits as you forgive your parents, forgive them, forget, move on from it. Move on from the parent thing. Move on. Okay, let them go. Let it go. You are, you have agency, you are your free, you are your own person, you're free to do as you please. People are going to act the way they act. Let it just take this week with a grain of salt. Virgo, I feel like your message, no matter what happens, no matter what's going on, just let stuff just be Jerry Seinfeld. Just let stuff roll off your back. Like, oh, okay.  But I mean, just in that type of energy where it's like, don't be George Costanza. Don't be out here with the, oh my God, nothing's working out. No.  Let it flow. Just let it go. Let things go. Okay. Healing family issues. Sometimes healing family issues is just basically letting your family be who they are. Letting people just be who they are.  No, it's basically just saying, okay, I see your thought process. I see how you are. I see these are your beliefs. I see these these are your actions. That's you. That's not me. Enjoy. You know, just let people acceptance is key. I feel like in this whole reading. What else? Okay, this could be the one. So you're going to be meeting the one. You are meeting the one, Virgo.  You've already met the romantic partner that you seek. Okay, some of you might even know who this person is if you haven't. So that's what I was going to say. It's either the one of the two or three scenarios that I gave you, or it's not your reading, or you already know who they are. Okay, you've already met them. And some of you can clarify that in the comments or in the chat. Okay, children, your love life is being affected by children. Okay, so some of you, like I was saying, you could meet somebody somewhere connected to a child or children, let your friends help you. Okay, so this is seeking support from people who are very close to you or your friends or your real true soul tribe who accepts you. Allow them to give you a lift pat on the back. Once in a while, you don't have to take on the whole world by yourself, Virgo. Accept the appreciation. Okay, yes, your soulmate is coming in here. Thank God. We don't want any twin in separation. We don't want any struggles. Just Virgo. You've got a soulmate energy playing out here for you.  I feel it so very strongly. And they might be not what you expect. They could be a little bit different than what you would expect. Okay, which is perfectly fine, you know. And so when I say that, I mean, you guys could be there could be some misalignment. So and in the way but yet you get you souls meeting souls, you know what I mean? I don't feel there'd be a struggle. I just feel there'd be a recognition of differences, but also a recognition of a lot more similarities. Okay, let me see what are your okay. Healing heart. This is what we were talking about. Healing from heartbreak freedom from toxic relationships or addiction. Okay, so really, again, what the healing is is just forgiveness and letting things go is just acceptance here. You also have lightning, sudden changes, shocking news, surprise, epiphanies, upheaval and transformation. This is some tower energy, which is like building back better again in your life, getting yourself in a position where you know what every whatever's fallen down has fallen down, let it fall, let the chips fall where they may. Okay, so then you can get back in there and start rebuilding again. Okay, so definitely a tower moment coming for you and look, beautiful, you have the Phoenix, a new phase, rekindling, renewing, transforming growth and a changed mind. So very beautiful energy. Okay, the Phoenix is rising. This is always about ascension. It's always about ascension. And usually, you know, we get these cards, they can be kind of difficult sometimes, but I feel it's funny how the cards tend to tie in with the reading the way that they do. I love it. All right, let me get a couple of other messages here for you from my Moon Pitero deck, which is the link is also below. If you would like to purchase this deck, I will show it to you in just a moment. Okay, I have a video out for this as well. Okay, this is my other channel, Moon Pitero, if you're new and you don't know me, I have another YouTube channel, haven't been on it as much. But this is the deck I am Moon Pie, and that's the deck that I've created. Okay, first card out, regret. Okay, somebody has regret. I feel like we said that in the very beginning, somebody had regret about a situation, a loss remorse, that's a five of cups energy, some grief, feeling abandoned or feeling unloved, not feeling like there's anything good. There's just like, Oh, kicking myself in the pants. Oh, I made a mistake. Okay, victory, recognition and applause is coming for you. Okay. I feel like you're going to get recognized. Virgo, it feels like I don't know exactly what this is about, or who it's for, or who it relates to. But I feel like if there was a situation in the past where something didn't work out, remember, I was saying there was a lack of closure, I feel like at some point, somebody's going to recognize you and in some way, give you a sense of like closure, like in other words, what you didn't get at some point you are going to get somebody I feel like is going to say to you know, I regret everything that I did, it was my, you know, I take a responsibility for my role in things. If you were with someone that was blaming you for everything or just left you on red, you just did ghosted you or just disappeared and you didn't know what was going on. And if you took, look, the struggle is over. If you took that upon yourself, and start blaming yourself.  Okay, everything that you're going to get appreciation. It's going to be a relief. I feel like there's so much healing during this week happening here, past relationships healing, an opportunity for closure, an opportunity for you to plant seeds and create your own growth and closure as well, and an opportunity to move forward in your life. I mean, honestly here with the struggle, the struggle is over, it's ending this week, whatever you're going through. And I don't mean like, you're going to feel it, Virgo, I feel it like spirits giving me this image of like, somebody reaching down and pulling that boulder off your back.  It's weird. When I wash my car, I always feel like my car runs better.   The struggle is coming to an end here. Okay, you've got direct honest female here. So you've got somebody I feel who's going to be very truthful with you during this week. What she's saying here. Okay, she's saying that you did good. She's also going to tell you somebody somebody could be trying to, okay, if this is related to a family situation during this time period, there's I feel like you're going to have someone who's on your side in some ways that says to you, they're just testing you, you know that they're just testing your boundaries. She's on your side. This direct honest female. She's not giving you problems.   They want to see what you're made of. And I think it's a really strong message for you Virgo to just kind of be like, hmm, okay. So you're saying that if I react to them, then they are happy and they get what they want. And then I'm weak. And she's going to say, yes, that's exactly what they're going to do. And just all you she wants you to know that when that when you're being tested, because it would please other people to see you like it gives them an ego boost, the message here for you is just say no, thanks, are not interested. You know, okay. Reflect, that's what she's saying, don't react, go within, go into that minds that cave, regroup, recollect a lot is going on. You may need some alone time, stay in the stillness and the quiet but don't get lost.  So if anybody tries to test your faith or your boundaries this time, you can go within and just excuse yourself. Just don't react to anything. I don't know what this message is, or what's coming through here for you or what the deal is, Virgo, but I feel like it's just a very strong message for you. Somebody here needs to hear it during this week. Let me get you know what we like to do our Chinese signs. So let's see what Chinese signs you could be interacting with during this week, or if this is you. Okay, so year of the rat, year of the snake. Well, we've got year of the pig, year of the rabbit. And that's the snake again, double snake got year of the horse, year of the tiger, which is actually the Chinese year we're in right now. Okay, year of the dog. And year of the ox. Okay, if I didn't call your name or your sign, or it's not your person sign, don't worry about it. Okay, it just means that it's specifically also specifically for somebody else here. Okay, so let's take a look and see what your charms, your charm messages are here. Okay, one sec, you guys, one sec. We're going to look at dates and signs that could be significant to you. During this time period. Okay, we have Aries, Cancer, Taurus twice. So birth date September 27, September 28, September 2, September 7, September 8, September 11. Okay. I'm sorry. When I said that September 26, 27, they said or the 28th, I meant to say, well, for some of you, it could be it could be connecting with someone, but I meant to say August. Okay, okay. So again, Aries, again, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio. I'm also picking up the birthday 1978, I'm picking up 1976, 1979, 1967, 1969, we're also getting and if I say repeat birth dates, just, you know, I'm just repeating your birth date. Okay, and that's a specific message. So September 6, the 7th, the 9th, and again, the 11th. Okay. Let's try again. Okay, Capricorn is here. Hello, Capricorn. Welcome back. We have Taurus, Leo, Virgo. Okay, so they're giving me September 3, the 12th. We're giving me, they're giving me September 5. Somebody is either 55 or was born in 1955. Somebody is also either 53 or 35. Okay. And one more. Okay, Capricorn is back again. Taurus, Taurus always shows up in your readings. What's going on? We have Gemini. Okay, we have September 6. Again, now we have the 7th and the 8th. We also have September 5. Also September 15, the 19th, the 18th and the 17th. Okay. And yeah, I think that's it. Now let me just get a couple of charms. So if those messages or those dates or signs resonated for you, that's definitely a reading Let's see what other charm messages you have here, Virgo. Okay, you have a bone, you have a dolphin. Okay, flower petal. That would be, okay. It's a flower that starts with a P. That's what I'm getting. Also, there's a teddy bear here. Okay. Okay. Bone fish or fish bone, I'm hearing. And I'm just seeing like beautiful, I don't know if they're peonies or petunias or like some pastel flowers that I'm picking up with like, maybe there's a teddy bear or a bunny stuffed animal in a bouquet of flowers being given. Also, I'm also seeing those my goodness, somebody's grandmother used to have those rubber pastel things that you put on the the the floor of a bathtub so that you didn't slip. They were like non slip stickers, but they just said they're like pink or blue. Okay, that they go like in the bottom of a bathtub to keep you from slipping when you're in the shower, I guess somebody's grandmother had that or mother had those also or had like dolphins or fish ones. Also, so cute. I'm also seeing somebody either just got a new puppy or is looking or is getting a puppy for like during this week, period, or maybe got one or is getting some bones for their dog, maybe you're shopping right now, getting some bones for your dog, or dog treats or something puppy treats, something along those lines. This teddy bear. Okay, so they just gave me this message. Somebody's somebody has there's a child that has a toy. And they lost their toy and they said it's over. It's in okay, they're just showing me they're showing me like a shrub and they're showing me a pool and like a like a backyard. They're saying it's over there. I don't know if it's like a stuffed toy or a little toy or something that a child or a grandchild or somebody or somebody lost something if you've lost something it's it's back there. Or maybe it's your phone that has like a somebody has like a phone that has like a little decorative teddy bear or maybe unicorn that looks like a key ring decoration of some sort that kind of hangs off a phone or maybe it's a phone case or something it's something it's it's like a it's an item okay and it's over by the shrub by the by a pool like somewhere back there. Okay, I don't know I don't have a pool so it's not me you guys I don't know sometimes spirit gives me these images and I see these visions and I'm like where is this coming from but and it's funny because I will have never been to a place and I did a reading for someone and when I first started and before I gave her her reading I had to tell her that I had images of a man walking on to the corner of a city where there was a produce outdoor kind of produce thing and I was describing the entire image for her and everything that played out my mind's eye everything that I saw and then she she she wrote back to me and explained to me that was a place in Seattle and it's a famous place and I can't remember what it's called I've never been to Seattle I've never seen the picture but when she wrote back to me and explained it and told me what this the area was I looked it up and lo and behold that was it that was the place and everything that I saw all the activity she knew exactly what it was so ever since then I'm like okay I don't know where I get the visions I don't know who I'm talking to I just know that I see them and I'm channeling the images and the visions and then when I'm putting it out here into the universe like somebody's I don't know what everybody might be like we don't know what you're talking about so I don't even know who it's for but with all that being said that's why I do what I do I hope that you enjoy this reading I hope you have a lovely spring break a lovely Easter if you are celebrating and I will be back next weekend to follow up with your daily readings again I will be back on the 23rd of April if you want to get a personal reading you can start booking up I do have some special discounts you can get a 30 minute phone call reading $50 off until the end of April so if you're interested in getting a personal reading for me definitely check that out um uh yeah have a wonderful wonderful holiday and spring break I'll talk to you soon okay love you guys bye


16 Someone who loved her. The summer waned, and each day, as it slipped away, took a little of Miss Ainsley's strength with it. There was neither disease nor pain. It was simply a letting go. Carl sent to the city for a physician of wide repute, but he shook his head. There's nothing to matter with her, he said, but she doesn't want to live. Just keep her as happy as you can. For a time she went about the house as usual, but gradually, more and more of her duties fell to Ruth. Hepsy came in every day after breakfast, and again in the late afternoon. Ruth tried to get her to go out for a drive, but she refused. No, dearie, she said, smiling, I've never been away, and I'm too old to begin now. Others hearing of her illness came to offer sympathy and help, but she would see none of them, not even Aunt Jane. One night she sat at the head of the table as usual, for she would not surrender her place as hostess, even though she ate nothing, and afterwards a great weakness came upon her. I don't know how I'll ever get upstairs, she said, frightened. It seemed such a long way. Winfield took her in his arms and carried her up, as gently and easily as if she had been a child. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes bright when he put her down. I never thought it would be so easy, she said, in answer to his question.  I don't want you to go away. I'll stay as long as you want me, Miss Ainsley, and Ruth will, too. We couldn't do too much for you.  Bless her, sweetheart, he said tenderly. We don't want her things, we'd rather have her. Indeed, we would, she answered quickly. Until the middle of September she went back and forth from her own room to the sitting-room with comparative ease. They took turns bringing dainties to tempt her appetite. But though she ate a little of everything, and praised it warmly, especially if Ruth had made it, she did it evidently, only out of consideration for them. She read a little, talked a little, and slept a great deal. One day she asked Carl to pull the heavy sandalwood chest over near her chair, and give her the key, which hung behind a picture. Will you please go away now, she asked, with a winning smile, for just a little while? He put the bell on a table within her reach, and asked her to ring if she wanted anything. The hours went by, and there was no sound. At last he went up, very quietly, and found her asleep. The chest was locked, and the key was not to be found. He did not know whether she had opened it or not. But she let him put it in its place again, without a word. Sometimes they read to her, and she listened patiently, occasionally asking a question, but more often falling asleep. I wish, she said one day, when she was alone with Carl, that I could hear something you had written. Why Miss Ainsley, he exclaimed, in astonishment, you wouldn't be interested in the things I write, it's only newspaper stuff. Yes, I would, she answered softly. Yes, I would. Everything in the way she said it brought the mist to his eyes. She liked to have Ruth brush her hair, but her greatest delight was in hearing Winfield talk about her treasures. Won't you tell me about the rug, Carl, the one on the sandalwood chest? She asked for the twentieth time. It's hundreds of years old, he began, and it came from Persia, far, far beyond the sea. The shepherds watched their flocks night and day, and saved the finest fleeces for the rug. They made color from flowers and sweet herbs, from strange things that grew on the mountain heights, where only the bravest dared to go. The sumac that flamed on the hills, the rind of the swaying pomegranates, leacons that grew on the rocks by the eastern sea, berries, deep sea treasures, vine leaves, the juice of the grape, they all made colors for the rug, and then ripened like old wine. After a long time, when everything was ready, the master craftsman made the design, writing strange symbols into the margin, eloquent with hidden meanings, that only the wisest may understand. They all worked upon it, men and women and children. Deep voices sang love songs, and the melody was woven into the rug. Soft eyes looked love in answer, and the softness and beauty went in with the fiber. Baby fingers clutched at it, and were laughingly untangled. At night, when the fires of the village were lighted, and the crimson glow was reflected upon it, strange tales of love and war were mingled with the thread. The nightingale sang into it, the roses from the Persian gardens breathed upon it, the moonlight put witchery into it, the tinkle of the gold and silver on the woman's dusky ankles, the scent of sandalwood and adder of rose, it all went into the rug. Poets repeated the verses to it, men knelt near it to say their prayers, and the soft wind rising from the sea made faintest music among the threads. Sometimes a workman made a mistake, and the master craftsman put him aside. Then the patient finger stopped weaving forever, and they found someone else to go on with it. Sometimes they went from one place to another, but the frame holding the rug was not injured. From mountain to valley and back again, urged by some strange instinct, past flowing rivers and over the golden sands of the desert, even to the deep blue waters that broke on the shore, they took the rug. The hoofbeats of Arabian horses, with white-robed bedowins flashing their swords, all the glitter and splendor of war were woven into it, songs of victory, the rush of a calvary charge, the faith of a dying warrior, even the slow marches of defeat, it all went into the rug. Perhaps the master craftsman died, but the design was left, and willing fingers toiled upon it, through the long years, each day putting new beauty into it and new dreams. Then one day the final knot was tied by a veiled lady, who sighed softly in the pauses of her song, and wondered at its surpassing loveliness. "'And,' said Miss Ainsley gently, "'someone who loved you brought it to you.' "'Yes,' she repeated, smiling, "'someone who loved me. Tell me about this,' she pleaded, touching evasive clusone. "'It came from Japan,' he said, "'a strange world of people like those painted on a fan. The streets are narrow, and there are quaint houses on either side.   They're as sweet as their own cherry blossoms.' The little man who made this vase were a blue tunic, and had no robes of state because he was poor. He loved the daughter of a noble man, and she loved him too, though neither dared to say so.  He made a model of clay, shaping it with his fingers until it was perfect. Then a silver vase was cast from it, and over and over it he went, very carefully, making a design with flat silver wire. When he was satisfied with it he filled it in with enamel and wonderful colors, making even the spots on the butterfly's wings like those he had seen in the fields. Outside the design he covered the vase with dark enamel, so the bright colors would show. As he worked the little lady he loved came and watched him sometimes for a moment or two, and then he put a tiny bit of gold into the vase. He put a flower into the design like those she wore in her hair, and then another like the one she dropped at his feet one day, when no one was looking. The artist put all his love into the vase, and he hoped that when it was done he could obtain a court position. He was very patient with the countless palishings, and one afternoon when the air was sweet with the odor of the cherry blossoms the last touches were put upon it. It was so beautiful that he was commissioned to make some great vases for the throne room, and then, with joy in his heart he sought the hand of the nobleman's daughter. The negotiations were conducted by another person, and she was forced to consent, though her heart ached for the artist in the blue tunic, whose name she did not know. When she learned that her husband was to be the man she had loved for so long, tears of happiness came into her dark eyes. The vase had disappeared mysteriously, and he offered a large reward for its recovery. At last they were compelled to give up the hope of finding it, and he promised to make her another one, just like it, with the same flowers and butterflies, and even the little glints of gold that marked the days she came. So she watched him, while he made the new one, and even more love went into it than into the first one. And began Miss Ainsley, someone who loved you brought it to you. Yes, she repeated, smiling, someone who loved me. Winfield fitted a story to every object in the room. Each rug had a different history, and every bit of tapestry its own tale. He conjured up an empress, who had once owned the teakwood chair, and a marquee, with patches and powdered hair, who wrote love letters at the marketry table. He told stories of the seashells, and of the mermaids who brought them to the shore, that someone who loved her might take them to her, and that the soft sound of the sea might always come to her ears, with visions of blue skies and tropic islands, where the sun forever shone. The empress and the marquee became real people to Miss Ainsley, and the Japanese lovers seemed to smile at her from the vase. Sometimes holding the rug on her lap, she would tell them how it was woven, and repeat the love story of a beautiful woman who had worked upon the tapestry. Often in the twilight she would sing softly to herself, snatches of forgotten melodies, and once a lullaby. Ruth and Carl sat by, watching for the slightest change. But she never spoke of the secret in her heart. Ruth had the north room across the hall, where there were two dressers. One of them had been empty until she put her things into it, and the other was locked. She found the key one day, hanging behind it, when she needed some things for Miss Ainsley. As she had half expected, the dresser was full of lingerie, of the finest lawn and linen, the dainty garments were edged with real lace, brussels, valencines, mechlin, point de ellencone, and the fine, Irish laces. Sometimes there was a cluster of tux, daintily run by hand, but usually only the lace, unless there was a bit of insertion to match. The buttons were mother of pearl, and the buttonholes were exquisitely made. One or two of the garments were threaded with white ribbon, after a more modern fashion, but most of them were made according to the quaint old patterns. There was a dozen of everything. The dried lavender flowers wrestled faintly, as Ruth reverently lifted the garments, giving out the long-stored sweetness of summers gone by. The white had changed to an ivory tint, growing deeper every day. There were eleven nightgowns all made exactly alike, with high neck and long sleeves, trimmed with tux and lace. Only one was in any way elaborate. The sleeves were short, evidently just above the elbow, and the neck was caught off the shoulders like a ball gown. A deep frill of Venetian point, with narrower lace at the sleeves of the same pattern, was the only trimming, except a tiny bow of lavender ribbon at the fastening, pinned on with a little gold heart. When Ruth went in, with one of the nightgowns over her arm, a faint color came into Miss Ainsley's cheeks. "'Did—did you find those?' she asked. "'Yes,' answered Ruth. "'I thought you'd like to wear them.' Miss Ainsley's color faded, and it was some time before she spoke again.' "'Did—did you find the other, the one with Venetian point?' "'Yes, Miss Ainsley. Do you want that one? It's beautiful.' "'No,' she said. "'Not now. But I thought that I'd like to wear that. Afterward, you know.' A shadow crossed Ruth's face, and her lips tightened. "'Don't, dear,' said Miss Ainsley gently. "'Do you think he would think it was indelicate if—if my neck were bare, then?' "'Who, Miss Ainsley?' "'Carol. Would he think it was wrong if I wore the afterward, and my neck and shoulders showed? Do you think he would?' "'No,' cried Ruth. I know he wouldn't. "'Oh, Miss Ainsley, you'll break my heart.' "'Ruth,' said Miss Ainsley gently. "'Ruth, dear, don't cry. I won't talk about it any more, dearie. I promise you. But I wanted to know so much.' Ruth kissed her and went away, unable to bear more just then. She brought her chair into the hall, to be near her if she were needed. Miss Ainsley sighed, and then began to croon a lullaby. CHAPTER XVII. As Miss Ainsley became weaker, she clung to Carle, and was never satisfied when he was out of her sight. When she was settled in bed for the night, he went in to sit by her, and hold her hand until she dropped to sleep. If she woke during the night, she would call Ruth and ask where he was. "'He'll come over in the morning, Miss Ainsley,' Ruth always said. "'You know it's night now.' "'Is it?' she would ask drowsily. "'I must go to sleep, then, dearie, so that I may be quite rested and refreshed when he comes.' Her room, in contrast to the rest of the house, was almost puritan in its simplicity. The bed and dresser were mahogany, plain but highly polished, and she had a mahogany rocker, with a cushion of old blue tapestry. There was a simple white cover on the bed, and another on the dresser, but the walls were dead white, unrelieved by pitchers or draperies. In the east window was a long, narrow footstool, and a prayer book and hymnil lay on the windowsill, where this maiden of half a century, looking seaward, knelt to say her prayers. One morning, when Ruth went in, she said, "'I think I won't get up this morning, dear. I am so very tired. If Carle should come over, will you say that I should like to see him?' She would see no one but Carle and Ruth, and Mrs. Ball was much offended because her friend did not want her to come upstairs. Don't be harsh with her, Aunt Jane, pleaded Ruth. You know people often have strange fancies when they are ill. She sent her love to you, and asked me to say that she thanked you, but you need not put the light in the attic window any more." Mrs. Ball gazed at her niece, long and earnestly. "'Be you telling me the truth?' she asked. "'Why, of course, Auntie.' When Mary Ainsley has got sense from somewheres, there ain't never been no need for that lamp to set in the winter, and when she gets more sense I reckon she'll be willing to see her friends.' With evident relief upon her face, Mrs. Ball departed. But Miss Ainsley seemed quite satisfied, and each day spoke more lovingly to Ruth and Carle. He showed no signs of impatience, but spent his days with her cheerfully. He read to her, held her hand, and told her about the rug, the marquee, and the Japanese lovers. At the end she would always say, with a quaint tenderness, and someone who loved me brought it to me. "'Yes, Miss Ainsley, someone who loved you. Everybody loves you. Don't you know that?' "'Do you?' she asked once, suddenly, and yet shyly. "'Indeed I do, Miss Ainsley. I love you with all my heart.' She smiled happily, and her eyes filled. "'Ruth,' she called softly. He says he loves me. "'Of course he does,' said Ruth. "'Nobody in the wide world could help loving you.'  She did not seem to notice when Ruth slipped it on again, and shortly afterward fell asleep. That night, Winfield stayed very late. "'I don't want to leave you, dear,' he said to Ruth. "'I'm afraid something is going to happen.' "'I'm not afraid. I think you'd better go. "'Will you put a light in your window if you want me, darling? Yes, I will. I can see it from my room, and I'll be watching for it, if you want me, I'll come.' He awoke from an uneasy sleep, with the feeling that Ruth needed him, and was not surprised to see the light from her candle streaming out into the darkness. He dressed hurriedly, glancing at his watch by the light of a match. It was just three o'clock. Ruth was waiting for him at the lower door. "'Is she—is she—' "'No, she seems to be just the same, but she wants you. She's been calling for you ever since you went away.' As they went upstairs, Miss Ainsley's sweet voice came to them, and pitiful pleading. "'Karl, Carl, dear, where are you? I want you.' "'I'm here, Miss Ainsley,' he said, sitting down on the bed beside her, and taking her hot hands in his. What can I do for you?' "'Tell me about the rug.' With no hint of weariness in his deep, quiet voice he told her the old story once more. When he had finished, she spoke again. I can't seem to get it just right about the Japanese lovers. Were they married?' "'Yes, they were married and lived happily ever afterward. Like the people in the fairytales.' That was lovely, she said, with evident satisfaction. Do you think they wanted me to have their vase? I know they did. Someone who loved you brought it to you. Everybody loves you, Miss Ainsley.' Did the Marquis find her lover? Yes, or rather, he found her. Did they want me to have their marquetry table? Of course they did. Didn't someone who loved you bring it to you? Yes, she sighed. Someone who loved me. She sang a little, very softly, with her eyes closed. It was a quaint old-fashioned tune, with a refrain of hushabye, and he held her hand until the song ceased, and she was asleep. Then he went over to Ruth.  I know you're tired. I'm never tired when I'm with you, Ruth answered, leaning upon his arm, and besides, I feel that this is the end. Miss Ainsley slept for some time, then, all at once, she started as if in terror. There, she said, very distinctly, go. He went to her, and tried to soothe her, but failed. No, she said again, letters, Ruth, chest. She want some letters that are in the sandalwood chest, he said to Ruth, and Miss Ainsley nodded. Yes, she repeated, letters. Ruth went into the sitting-room, where a light was burning dimly, but the chest was locked. Do you know where the key is, Carl, she asked, coming back for a moment? No, I don't, dear, he answered. Then he asked Miss Ainsley where the key was, but she only murmured, letters. Shall I go and help Ruth find them? Yes, she said, help, letters. Together, they broke open the lock of the chest, while Miss Ainsley was calling faintly, Carl, Carl, dear, where are you, I want you. We'd better turn the whole thing out on the floor, he said, suiting the action to the word, then put it back against the wall empty. We'll have to shake everything out carefully, returned Ruth. That's the only way to find them. Trimped carefully in a fine linen sheet was Miss Ainsley's wedding gown, of heavy white satin, trimmed simply with priceless Venetian point. They shook it out hurriedly, and put it back into the chest. There were yards upon yards of lavender tapeta, cut into dress lengths, which they folded up and put away. Three strings of amethyst, and two of pearls, slipped out of the silk as they lifted it, and there was another length of lustrous white tapeta, which had changed to an ivory tint. Four shawls of canton crepe, three of them lavender, and one ivory white, were put back into the chest. There were several fans, a fine berkmanship, a girdle of oxidized silver, set with amethysts and pearls, and a large marquetry box, which contained tea. That's all the large things, he said. Now we can look these over. Ruth was gathering up great quantities of lace, brussels, pointe elencone, cloney, mechelin, valentines, duchess, and Venetian point. There was a bridal veil of the Venetian lace, evidently made to match that on the gown. Tiny dried petals rustled out of the meshes, for Miss Ainsley's laces were laid away in lavender, like her love. I don't see them, she said. Yes, here they are. She gave him a bundle of yellowed letters, tied with lavender ribbon. I'll take them to her, he answered, picking up a small black case that lay on the floor, and opening it. Why, Ruth, he gasped, it's my father's picture. Miss Ainsley's voice rose again in pitiful cadence. Carl, Carl, dear, where are you?  He hastened to her, leaving the picture in Ruth's hand. It was an ambrotype, set into a case lined with purple velvet. The face was that of a young man, not more than twenty-five or thirty, who looked strangely like Winfield. The eyes, forehead, and the poise of the head were the same. The earth trembled beneath Ruth's feet for a moment, then all at once she understood. The light in the attic window, the marked paragraph in the paper, and the death notices. Why yes, the Charles Winfield who had married Abigail Winfield was Miss Ainsley's lover, and Carl was his son. He went away. Miss Ainsley's voice came again to Ruth when she told her story, with no hint of her lover's name. He went away, and soon afterward married Abigail Weatherby. But why? Was it love at first sight, or did he believe that his sweet heart was dead? Then Carl was born, and the mother died. Twelve years afterward he followed her, brokenhearted. Carl had told her that his father could not bear the smell of lavender, nor the sight of any shade of purple, and Miss Ainsley always wore lavender, and lived in the scent of it. Had he come to shrink from it through remorse? Why was it, she wondered? Had he forgotten Miss Ainsley, or had he been suddenly swept off his feet by some blind whirlwind of passion? In either case memory had returned to torture him a thousandfold, to make him ashamed to face her, with his boy in his arms. And Aunt Jane knew of the marriage at the time, probably, and said no word. Then she learned of Abigail Weatherby's death, and was still silent, hoping perhaps that the wanderer would come back, until she learned that Charles Winfield, too, was dead. And still she had not told Miss Ainsley, or possibly thought she knew it all till the day that Hepsy had spoken of, when she came home, looking strange, to keep the light in the attic window every night for more than five years. Was it kind? Rift doubted for a moment. Then her heart softened, with love for Aunt Jane, who had hid in the knowledge that would be a death blow to Miss Ainsley, and let her live on, happy in her dream, while the stern, pure-ton conscience made her keep the light in the attic window in fulfillment of her promise. As if the little light could reach the veil which hangs between us and eternity, or penetrate the greyness which never parts, save for a passage. As if all Miss Ainsley's love and faith could bring the dead to life again, even to be forgiven. Her lips quivered when she thought of Miss Ainsley's tenderness for Carl, and the little whispered lullabies that she sang to herself, over and over again. She does not know, thought Ruth, thank God, she will never know. She put the rest of the things into the chest and closed it, covering it as before, with the rug Miss Ainsley loved. When she went into the other room, she was asleep again, with her cheek pillowed on the letters, while Carl sat beside her, holding her hand and pondering over the mystery he could not explain. Ruth's heart ached for those two, so strangely brought together, who had but this little hour to atone for a lifetime of loss. The first faint lines of light came into the eastern sky. Ruth stood by the window, watching the color come on the gray above the hill, while two or three stars still shone dimly. The night lamp flickered, then went out. She set it in the hall, and came back to the window. As Miss Ainsley's rug had been woven, little by little, purple, crimson, and turquoise, gleaming with inward fires, shown upon the clouds, Carl came over to Ruth, putting his arm around her. They watched it together, that miracle which is as old as the world, and yet ever knew. I don't see, he began. Hush, dear Ruth, whispered, I know, and I'll tell you sometime, but I don't want her to know. The sky brightened slowly, and the intense color came into the room with the light. Ruth drew the curtains aside, saying in a low tone, It's beautiful, isn't it? There was a sudden movement in the room, and they turned, to see Miss Ainsley sitting up, her cheeks flushed, and the letters scattered around her. The ribbon had slipped away, and her heavy white hair fell over her shoulders. Ruth went to her to tie it back again, but she put her away very gently, without speaking. Carol stood by the window, thinking, and Miss Ainsley's eyes rested upon him, with wonder and love. The sunrise stained her white face, and her eyes shone brightly, as sapphires touched with dawn. The first ray of the sun came into the little room, and lay upon her hair, changing its whiteness to gleaming silver. Then all at once her face illumined, as from a light within. Carl moved away from the window, strangely drawn toward her, and her face became radiant with unspeakable joy. And the passion of her denied motherhood swelled into a cry of longing. My son! Mother broke from his lips an answer. He went to her blindly, knowing only that they belong to each other, and that in some inscrutable way they had been kept apart until it was too late. He took her into his arms, holding her close, and whispering brokenly, what only she and God might hear. Ruth turned away sobbing, as if it was something too holy for her to see. Miss Ainsley, transfigured with an unearthly light, lifted her face to his. Her lips quivered for an instant, then grew cold beneath his own.  As though at the end of her journey, and beyond the mists that divided them, her dream had become divinely true. Then he, who should have been her son, bent down, the tears falling unheeded upon her face, and kissed her again. End of Chapter 17. Recording by Bridget. End of Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed.