en ground, and as she listened she felt a
great wave of inward happiness surge into her heart and make the
possibilities of life seem very different to her from anything she had
ever dreamed of before. The snow, the sound of chiming Christmas
bells, worked upon her, and made her feel that it would be easy to be
good, and that her days ought all to be like this; that she would make
them so, serene and melodious, every one a festival.

She heard Miss Blake stirring in the next room, and tore herself away
from her dreams to begin the day well with a prompt appearance at the
breakfast table.

"It seems to me that if father were only here I wouldn't have a thing
left in the world to wish for," she said happily, spearing a gold-brown
scallop with her fork and eating it with relish.

Miss Blake put down her coffee-cup just as she was carrying it to her
lips, and her face wore the curious expression that Nan had so often
noticed there and could never account for. But the girl was too busy
with her own thoughts to regard it to-day, and the governess hastened
to respond:

"Then next year, please God, you will be quite entirely happy. And a
year is not long to wait."

"No, indeed!" broke in Nan. "Why, I never knew the time to go as
quickly as it does lately. It doesn't seem any while at all since you
came, and you've been here over two months. Just let's think what
we'll do next Christmas, when father is home. To begin with, I'm going
down to the dock with Mr. Turner, so that when the ship comes in he'll
see me the first thing. Then we'll come up here, and you and Delia
will be waiting to welcome him at the door, and there'll be decorations
and things and--"

"You forget, dear Nan," Miss Blake said, gently interrupting her, "that
I shall not be here then."

The girl's face fell and the light died out of her eyes. Then she
brightened again suddenly.

"Oh, you must, you must! Why, my father will want to see you. Of
course you'll be here. You'll have to stay and meet him. You can
surely do as much as that. You don't know how dear my father is! And
so handsome and good! Why, if you once saw him you couldn't possibly
be afraid. He's simply the kindest man in the world, and when he
smiles at you, you just love him--you can't help it."

Miss Blake herself smiled faintly. "I am sure he is all you say, Nan,"
she replied. "But listen! There go the first bells. We must hurry or
we shall be late for church."