fe. To-day her heart
was sore for the child, knowing well that her lot would not seem more
easy to bear as the years went on.

"My darling," said she, "it is God's will."

"Yes, mother; but why should it be God's will just with me? Surely when
He can do _anything_, He might give me a chance with the rest. Or else
He should just make me content as I am."

"And so He will, dear, in time. You must ask Him, and leave all in His
hand."

"Oh! yes. I must just leave it. There is nothing else to do. As to
asking--I ay ask to be made strong, and to walk about on my ain feet.
And then--wouldna I just serve Him!"

The last words were spoken to Allison, whose kind, sad eyes had been
resting on her all the time. And Allison answered:

"But surely it may be His will that you should see the full burn and the
snawy braes, if it be your mother's will! A' the bairns are better
since the frost came, and I might carry wee Marjorie as far as the fit
o' the Wind Hill for a change."

"Oh! mother! mother! Let me go. Allie carries me so strong and easy.
And I might have Mrs Esselmont's warm shawl round me, and the soft
little hat, and I would never feel the cold. Oh! mother! mother!"

"I might at least take her to the end o' the lane; and if she should be
cauld, or weary, or if the cough came on, I could be hame with her in a
minute."

Though only half convinced of the wisdom of such a plan, her mother
consented; and by and by the happy child, wrapped warmly, her pale face
looking very bright and sweet in the soft little hat, laid herself back
in Allison's arms with a sigh of content.

"Yes, I'm going to heed what Robin says, and fall into raptures and
weary myself. I'm just going to be quiet and see it all, and then I
will have it all to think about afterward."

The snow was all trodden down in the street through which they passed
first, to see the snow castle which the boys had made, and the castle
itself was a disappointment. It was "past its best," Allison said. It
was battered and bulging, and the walls had lost their whiteness; and
the snow about it was trampled and soiled, and little pools of dirty
water had collected at its base. But even "at its best," it must have
fallen far short of the beauty of the castle which the child's
imagination had built, as she lay in the dark, wishing so eagerly to be
like the rest.

But the rush of the full burn did not disappoint her, nor the long level
fields, nor the hil