me from church, how softly he played all
his pretty melodies for her! It was a day of feast and gladness; and
when, to her surprise and pleasure, a committee of church people waited
upon Mrs. Morton to give her a purse, through the meshes of which
glittered gold pieces, she said then and there that Toni should never go
to the harsh and cruel Padrone again.

Perhaps some time as you listen to a sweet voice singing to the
accompaniment of a violin you may think of Mrs. Morton and Toni, and be
glad that the world bestows its applause and its gifts upon them, and
that the vision of his mother and her love which came to Toni on that
Christmas-eve has been made to him a reality.

[Begun in No. 5 of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, December 2.]

THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGEN AND NYCTERIS.

A Day and Night Maehrchen.

BY GEORGE MACDONALD.

XIV.--THE SUN.

There Nycteris sat, and there the youth lay, all night long, in the
heart of the great cone-shadow of the earth, like two Pharaohs in one
pyramid. Photogen slept, and slept; and Nycteris sat motionless lest she
should waken him, and so betray him to his fear.

The moon rode high in the blue eternity; it was a very triumph of
glorious Night; the river ran babble-murmuring in deep soft syllables;
the fountain kept rushing moonward, and blossoming momently to a great
silvery flower, whose petals were forever falling like snow, but with a
continuous musical clash, into the bed of its exhaustion beneath; the
wind woke, took a run among the trees, went to sleep, and woke again;
the daisies slept on their feet at hers, but she did not know they
slept; the roses might well seem awake, for their scent filled the air,
but in truth they slept also, and the odor was that of their dreams; the
oranges hung like gold lamps in the trees, and their silvery flowers
were the souls of their yet unembodied children; the scent of the acacia
blooms filled the air like the very odor of the moon herself.

At last, unused to the living air, and weary with sitting so still and
so long, Nycteris grew drowsy. The air began to grow cool. It was
getting near the time when she too was accustomed to sleep. She closed
her eyes just a moment, and nodded--opened them suddenly wide, for she
had promised to watch.

In that moment a change had come. The moon had got round, and was
fronting her from the west, and she saw that her face was altered, that
she had grown pale, as if she too were wan with fear, and fr