spared you."

Milly raised her large dark eyes to his.

"If I had died I should have gone straight up to God, shouldn't I?"

"Yes, you would."

"I should have liked that. I suppose He doesn't want me yet, or He would
have sent for me."

When she came down to her uncle that evening she raised a very sad
little face to his from the opposite side of the table.

"Uncle Edward, have you heard who Goliath really did kill?"

"Do you mean the tree that came on you? No one else was hurt, I hope?"
and Sir Edward's tone was a little anxious.

"She was killed dead--quite dead and mangled, nurse said. It was the
poor little kitten, uncle, that I ran out to fetch."

The brown eyes were swimming with tears, and Milly could not understand
the smile that came to Sir Edward's lips.

"Only a kitten. Well, it was sad, I daresay, but there are plenty of
kittens about the place."

"But, uncle, I've been thinking so much about this one. Ford says she
had run away from the stable. I expect she was going to be a prodigal
kitten, perhaps, and now she'll never run away any more. It's so sad
about her, and I think why it is sad is because nobody cares, not even
nurse. She said she would rather it had been the kitten than me. Poor
little kitty, her mother will be missing her so to-night! Do you think,
uncle, the wind or Goliath killed her? I think it was Goliath. I just
looked out of my window on the stairs before I came down. The wind has
stopped now, and the trees seemed to be crying and sobbing together. I'm
sure they were sorry for kitty. I think they were tired out themselves,
too, they have been so knocked about to-day. I wish so much I had been
just in time to save the dear little kitten."

"We will not talk about her any more," said Sir Edward cheerfully. "Have
you seen Tom Maxwell lately?"

Milly's little tongue was only too ready to talk of him.

"He helped nurse and me to get some holly in the wood yesterday. I have
nice talks with him often. He says he is very happy, and this will be
the best Christmas he has spent in his life. Uncle, I want to ask you
something. I've been thinking of it a great deal to-day, only since I
was knocked down this afternoon I've had such a pain in my head I left
off thinking. But I've just remembered it now. You see it is really
Jesus Christ's birthday to-morrow, and I was thinking I've been getting
presents for every one in the house but Him. Nurse has been helping me
with some of them. I'v