he said to himself.

Mamma proved a true prophet, "To-morrow" was a lovely day. So lovely
that she and Max's father drove away to some distance, leaving word that
they would not be back till the evening.

"Good-bye, darling. Be a good boy. Nurse will let you play in the garden
all the afternoon," were their last words to the happy little face
waving good-bye from the window.

But late that evening when they returned, they were met by a crowd of
white-faced frightened servants, with a sad story to tell. "Master Max
was not to be found. They had hunted up and down--_everywhere_. He was
playing in the garden beside nurse, and she just left him for an instant
to fetch her work, and when she came back he was gone--she gave the
alarm at once, and ever since they had been searching." But in vain. Yet
where could he be? There was no pond into which he could have fallen--no
high bank even, over which he could have rolled.

The garden was the safest there could be, many a score of times had Max
played there alone, though within view of the nursery windows; nurse
could not be blamed. No one, nothing, was to blame. It was a mystery!

The father and mother looked at each other with anguish in their eyes.
It was growing late. How could they live through the night with the
thought of their darling out alone in the darkness? And where?

"Oh, _where_ can he be?"

Suddenly the mother looked up--yes, there were the stars coming out
again one after the other, as if nothing were the matter; just as they
had done two evenings before when little Max had been gazing at them
from behind the curtains. What was it he had been saying in his funny
little way? The half-heard words rushed back to her memory.

"Williams," she said to the gardener, "is there a ladder anywhere
about?"

[Illustration]

They all stared at her. Yes, he had left one--a very high one--against
a tree. There were some branches he was lopping off, but he had "never
thought for to--"

She did not wait, but rushed off to where he pointed, and breathless,
speechless, signed for some one to ascend it. Max's father of course.
And then came a joyful cry.

"I have him. Up here fast asleep, like a bird in its nest."

Yes, there he was, coiled among the branches, unconscious of his fearful
peril.

"I found God's ladder," he said, "but when I got to the top, Him wasn't
there. So I waited till Him came to light the candles to ask Him to let
me peep into heaven, mamma. Bu