winter. They went down to the lodge to talk it over with old Bob.

'I don't think Easter can be much nicer than Christmas!' said Olive, as
she climbed up on the old man's knees. 'Don't you like Christmas, Mr.
Bob?'

'Yes, Miss Olive, I loves the Christmas in the Bible; but not as some
folks make it here. 'Tis very nice for you little ones, with all your
bright spirits; but when you get old, you somehow never feel so sad as
when every one round you is extra happy. I'm a lonely old man, and I
miss my dear ones at these times.'

'It seems _years_ since we came to England,' said Roland, his thoughts
taking another direction, 'and it has been winter ever since we came
from India. I can't think how it will ever look any different You're
quite sure we shall see all the gardens full of beautiful flowers at
Easter, Mr. Bob? I don't see how it is going to happen.'

'No more do any of us,' said Bob, with shining eyes; 'we just hope and
wait, and the good Lord never fails. You won't see the garden at its
best at Easter, perhaps, Master Roland, but you'll see the beginning of
it all, like "the shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day."'

So time passed, and then one day when the children were passing by the
lodge, Bob called them in with a mysterious face.

'Look inside my dear wife's pot,' he said.

Eagerly the little faces peered down into it, and then little Olive
laughed and clapped her hands.

'A dear little tiny weeny green stem! It's coming up at last!'

[Illustration]

'And look! In two other pots I can see something! exclaimed Roland
excitedly.

'Ay, I remember the first sight I ketched of it after my loss,' said
Bob. 'I were very broken-hearted, but it seemed to bring a tiny spark of
hope to my heart, to see what I had only believed by faith was goin' on
underground. It's grand to see the Lord's workin's; but mind, you little
ones, that there plant is just as much alive before it shows itself.
There is a deal goin' on in the silence and darkness that we knows
nothin' about, but it's fact all the same.'

The children could talk of nothing else all that day, and little Olive
was found by her nurse standing over Bob's graves, giving them most
careful scrutiny a short time after.

'What are you doing here?' asked nurse. 'I've been looking for you
everywhere.'

'Mr. Bob's lilies have come through the earth at last, nurse,' said
Olive, raising her blue eyes earnestly to her nurse's face; '