en--but it is gone now."

"This baby will take Joy's place," said Marilla.

"Oh, no, no, NO, Marilla. He can't--nothing can ever do that. He has
his own place, my dear, wee man-child. But little Joy has hers, and
always will have it. If she had lived she would have been over a year
old. She would have been toddling around on her tiny feet and lisping
a few words. I can see her so plainly, Marilla. Oh, I know now that
Captain Jim was right when he said God would manage better than that my
baby would seem a stranger to me when I found her Beyond. I've learned
THAT this past year. I've followed her development day by day and week
by week--I always shall. I shall know just how she grows from year to
year--and when I meet her again I'll know her--she won't be a stranger.
Oh, Marilla, LOOK at his dear, darling toes! Isn't it strange they
should be so perfect?"

"It would be stranger if they weren't," said Marilla crisply. Now that
all was safely over, Marilla was herself again.

"Oh, I know--but it seems as if they couldn't be quite FINISHED, you
know--and they are, even to the tiny nails. And his hands--JUST look
at his hands, Marilla."

"They appear to be a good deal like hands," Marilla conceded.

"See how he clings to my finger. I'm sure he knows me already. He
cries when the nurse takes him away. Oh, Marilla, do you think--you
don't think, do you--that his hair is going to be red?"

"I don't see much hair of any color," said Marilla. "I wouldn't worry
about it, if I were you, until it becomes visible."

"Marilla, he HAS hair--look at that fine little down all over his head.
Anyway, nurse says his eyes will be hazel and his forehead is exactly
like Gilbert's."

"And he has the nicest little ears, Mrs. Doctor, dear," said Susan.
"The first thing I did was to look at his ears. Hair is deceitful and
noses and eyes change, and you cannot tell what is going to come of
them, but ears is ears from start to finish, and you always know where
you are with them. Just look at their shape--and they are set right
back against his precious head. You will never need to be ashamed of
his ears, Mrs. Doctor, dear."

Anne's convalescence was rapid and happy. Folks came and worshipped
the baby, as people have bowed before the kingship of the new-born
since long before the Wise Men of the East knelt in homage to the Royal
Babe of the Bethlehem manger. Leslie, slowly finding herself amid the
new conditions of h