should be asleep. It is
after ten o'clock."

The boy-soprano, clad in white surplice, stood in the organ loft.

The lamps shone full upon his crown of fair hair, and his pale face,
with its serious blue eyes, looked paler than usual. Perhaps it was
something in the tender thrill of the voice, or in the sweet words, but
there were tears in many eyes, both in the church and in the great
house next door.

"I am far frae my hame,
I am weary aften whiles
For the langed for hame-bringin
An' my Faether's welcome smiles.
An' I'll ne'er be fu' content,
Until my e'en do see
The gowden gates o' heaven
In my ain countree.

The earth is decked wi' flow'rs,
Mony tinted, fresh an' gay,
An' the birdies warble blythely,
For my Faether made them sae;
But these sights an' these soun's
Will as naething be to me,
When I hear the angels singin'
In my ain countree.

Like a bairn to its mither,
A wee birdie to its nest,
I fain would be gangin' noo
Unto my Faether's breast;
For He gathers in His arms
Helpless, worthless lambs like me,
An' carries them Himsel'
To His ain countree."

There were tears in many eyes, but not in Carol's. The loving heart
had quietly ceased to beat and the "wee birdie" in the great house had
flown to its "home nest." Carol had fallen asleep! But as to the
song, I think perhaps, I cannot say, she heard it after all!

* * * * *

So sad an ending to a happy day! Perhaps--to those who were left--and
yet Carol's mother, even in the freshness of her grief, was glad that
her darling had slipped away on the loveliest day of her life, out of
its glad content, into everlasting peace.

She was glad that she had gone, as she had come, on wings of song, when
all the world was brimming over with joy; glad of every grateful smile,
of every joyous burst of laughter, of every loving thought and word and
deed the dear, last day had brought.

Sadness reigned, it is true, in the little house behind the garden; and
one day poor Sarah Maud, with a courage born of despair, threw on her
hood and shawl, walked straight to a certain house a mile away, dashed
up the marble steps and into good Dr. Bar