lose to him and jingled the keys in his
ear; but after one start he laughed, well pleased.

"I but just missed them," he said. "Thou'rt a good boy to fetch them up.
Art going home with me to-night?"

"No, I'm to sleep at my mother's," said Roger, "but I'll wait and walk
with you, Grandfather." So he slipped into a pew, and sat down till the
work should be finished, and they ready to go; and as he looked up he
saw all at once how beautiful the old church was looking.

The moon outside was streaming in so brightly, that you hardly missed
the sun, Roger could see distinctly way up to the carved beams of the
roof, and trace the figures on the great arched windows over the altar,
whose colors had so often dazzled him on Sundays. The colors were soft
and dim now, but the figures were there. Roger could see them
plainly,--the sitting figure of the Lord Christ, with St. Matthew and
two other apostles, and the fisher-lad with his basket of fish. He had
often asked Granny to read him the story.

That gleam at the further end of the nave came from the organ-loft,
where the moonbeams had found out the great brass pipes, and were
playing all manner of tricks with them. Almost the red of the
holly-berries could be seen, and every pointed ivy-leaf and spike of
evergreen in the wreathings of the windows stood out in bold relief
against the shining panes. With this beautiful whiteness the red glow of
the fire blended, and flooded the chancel with a lovely pink light, in
which shone the gilded letters on the commandment-tables, and the
brasses of the tablets on the walls. It was a wonderful thing to see.

To study the roof better, Roger thought he would lie flat on the cushion
awhile, and look straight up. So he arranged himself comfortably, and
somehow--it _will_ happen, even when we are full of enjoyment and
pleasure--his eyes shut, and the first thing he knew he was rubbing them
open again, only a minute afterward, as it seemed; but Grandfather was
gone. There was the stove closed for the night, and the great door at
the end of the aisle was shut. He jumped up in a fright, as you can
imagine, and ran to see, and shook it hard. No: it was locked, and poor
Roger was fastened in for the night.

He understood it all in a moment. The tall pew had hidden him from
sight. Grandfather had thought him gone home; his mother would ever
doubt that he was safe at the other cottage; no one would miss him, and
there was no chance of being let o