and moving a little farther over in the corner, where it was
so dark that even Toby could not see what he was doing, he pulled off
his poor old overcoat, from which the water was dripping, but which was
still warm and partly dry on the inside. Stealing back to Toby, he laid
the coat over his shivering shoulders, chuckling to think that Toby
would never know that it was not the saddle-blanket. Feeling now that he
had done his best for his friend, he buttoned his cassock closer and
laid down on the freezing ground, with the frozen saddle for a pillow,
and tried to get what rest and sleep he could.

At times like this--and they were not a few--it was hard for Father Orin
to believe that Toby had no soul. It was indeed so hard now and then,
as on that night, that he could not believe it; that he could not think
there would be no reward of any kind for such service as Toby was giving
the Faith. It was service as faithful as his own; he could not have
given his without Toby's help. Looking upward toward his own reward,
even this bitter, black winter's night became as nothing; but Toby--what
was there for Toby? He did not remember that he often gave Toby the food
which he needed himself, as he had just given him the warmth from his
own shivering body. He thought only of the things that Toby did for him
and for the Faith. And so thinking, very strange fancies about Toby
would now and then come to him with the profoundest reverence. And on
that dreary night, when their dauntless spirits seemed to touch, while
their exhausted bodies thus dozed side by side, a pleasant vision
vaguely blended Father Orin's half-conscious dreams with his perplexed
waking thoughts.

Of a sudden, all was bright and warm, and he felt himself going up, up,
up, through flawless blue space. He thought he had no wings, but he did
not miss them, nor even think about them; he was missing and thinking
about Toby, and wondering, where he was, and what he was doing. But ah!
there he was all ready and waiting close to the gate of paradise. Yes,
there was Toby after all! There he was, standing by a celestial manger
overflowing with ambrosia, already blanketed with softest zephyrs,
saddled with shining clouds, and bitted with sunbeams--quite ready and
only waiting for the touch of his friend's hand on the bridle--to canter
up the radiant highway walled with jasper and paved with stars.

XV

THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN

The fancy pleased Father Or