darling," said Gertrude, kneeling down by the
low chair on which her little brother sat. She put her arms around him,
and drawing his head down on her breast, kissed him many times, her
heart filling full of tenderness for the fragile little creature. The
child laughed softly, as he returned her caresses, stroking her cheeks
and her hair with his little thin hand.

"You won't be cross any more, Tudie?" he said.

"I don't know, dear. I don't mean to be cross, but I dare say I shall
be, for all that."

"And will you sing to Christie and me?"

"Oh, yes; that I will--to your heart's content."

She had taken him in her arms, and was sitting with him on her lap, by
this time; and they were silent, while Christie moved about the room,
putting things away before they should go down-stairs.

"Christie," said Gertrude, "do you know I think Claude must be changed
as you say you are? He is so different from what he used to be!"

Christie stood quite still, with the garment she had been folding in her
hands.

"He is much better," she said. "He does not suffer as he used to do."

"No. Well, perhaps that is it. Do you think he is too young to be
changed? But if the change is wrought by God, as you say it is, how can
he be too young?"

Christie came and knelt beside them.

"I don't know. I suppose not. You know it is said, `Suffer the little
children to come unto Me.'"

The little boy looked from one to the other as they spoke.

"It was Jesus who said that--Jesus, who opened the eyes of the blind
man. And He loved us and died for us. I love Him dearly, Tudie."

The girls looked at each other for a moment. Then Christie kissed his
little white hands, and Gertrude kissed his lips and his shining hair,
but neither of them spoke a word.

"Now, Tudie, come and sing to Christie and me," said the child, slipping
from her lap, and taking her hand.

"Yes; I will sing till you are weary." And as she led him down-stairs
and through the hall, her voice rose clear as a bird's, and her painful
thoughts were banished for that time.

But they came back again more frequently and pressed more heavily as the
winter passed away. She put a restraint on herself, as far as Christie
and her little brothers were concerned. When she felt unhappy or
irritable, she stayed away from the upper nursery. She would not
trouble Christie any more with her naughtiness, she said to herself; so
at such times she would shut herself in h