gentle breath of cool
wind upon his face, and it kept blowing upon him in little puffs, and at
every puff Diamond felt his faintness going away, and his fear with it.
Courage was reviving in his little heart, and still the cool wafts of
the soft wind breathed upon him, and the soft wind was so mighty and
strong within its gentleness, that in a minute more Diamond was marching
along the narrow ledge as fearless for the time as North Wind herself.

He walked on and on, with the windows all in a row on one side of him,
and the great empty nave of the church echoing to every one of his brave
strides on the other, until at last he came to a little open door, from
which a broader stair led him down and down and down, till at last all
at once he found himself in the arms of North Wind, who held him close
to her, and kissed him on the forehead. Diamond nestled to her, and
murmured into her bosom,--"Why did you leave me, dear North Wind?"

"Because I wanted you to walk alone," she answered.

"But it is so much nicer here!" said Diamond.

"I daresay; but I couldn't hold a little coward to my heart. It would
make me so cold!"

"But I wasn't brave of myself," said Diamond, whom my older readers will
have already discovered to be a true child in this, that he was given to
metaphysics. "It was the wind that blew in my face that made me brave.
Wasn't it now, North Wind?"

"Yes: I know that. You had to be taught what courage was. And you
couldn't know what it was without feeling it: therefore it was given
you. But don't you feel as if you would try to be brave yourself next
time?"

"Yes, I do. But trying is not much."

"Yes, it is--a very great deal, for it is a beginning. And a beginning
is the greatest thing of all. To try to be brave is to be brave. The
coward who tries to be brave is before the man who is brave because he
is made so, and never had to try."

"How kind you are, North Wind!"

"I am only just. All kindness is but justice. We owe it."

"I don't quite understand that."

"Never mind; you will some day. There is no hurry about understanding it
now."

"Who blew the wind on me that made me brave?"

"I did."

"I didn't see you."

"Therefore you can believe me."

"Yes, yes; of course. But how was it that such a little breath could be
so strong?"

"That I don't know."

"But you made it strong?"

"No: I only blew it. I knew it would make you strong, just as it did the
man in the boat, you remember. Bu