alone as if the only occupants of the
car.

They craned forward, eager for the first glimpse of the house, and
caught sight of a beam of light athwart the darkness of the night.

The house was all black save for one window, but that was as a
lighthouse in a waste, for the curtains were undrawn, and fire and lamp
sent out a rosy glow which seemed the embodiment of cheer.

Against the white background of the wall a group of figures could be
seen standing together beneath the lamp; the strains of a harmonium
floated sweetly on the night air, a chorus of glad young voices singing
the well-known words:

"The King of Love my Shepherd is!"

With a common impulse the two girls waved their hands from the window as
the car plunged forward.

"Good-night, little sisters!"

"Good-night, little brothers!"

[Sidenote: How He comes]

"Sleep well, little people. The Christ Child is with you. You asked Him,
and He came----"

"And the wonderful thing," said Peg, "the most wonderful thing is, that
He came _through us_!"

"But that," answered Margaret thoughtfully, "is just how He always
_does_ come."

[Sidenote: The story of a girl's adventure for a father's sake that may
help girls who are at all like Anna.]

Anna

BY

KATHARINE S. MACQUOID

Three thousand feet up the side of a Swiss mountain a lateral valley
strikes off in the direction of the heights that border the course of
the Rhine on its way from Coire to Sargans. The closely-cropped,
velvet-smooth turf, the abundant woods, sometimes of pine-trees and
sometimes of beech and chestnut, give a smiling, park-like aspect to the
broad green track, and suggest ideas of peace and plenty.

As the path gradually ascends on its way to Fadara the wealth of wild
flowers increases, and adds to the beauty of the scene.

A few brown cow-stables are dotted about the flower-sprinkled meadows; a
brook runs diagonally across the path, and some freshly-laid planks show
that inhabitants are not far off; but there is not a living creature in
sight. The grasshoppers keep up their perpetual chirrup, and if one
looks among the flowers one can see the gleam of their scarlet wings as
they jump; for the rest, the flowers and the birds have it all to
themselves, and they sing their hymns and offer their incense in
undisturbed solitude.

When one has crossed the brook and climbed an upward slope into the
meadow beyond it, one enters a thick fir-wood full of fragrant