ss, the long watches
of the night, when she had called to mind some old familiar scene--her
mother at the well, the country road, Ezra hastening home from school?
Now the inn stable rose before her. Did she really see the nose of an ox
thrusting itself over the stall? Or did she only dream the mound of hay,
and on it the young Mother wrapped in a wide blue cloak and in her arms
a Child, at the velvet touch of Whose tiny hands the black curtain had
dropped from before her eyes?

Naomi rubbed her hands together and looked down at them. Yes, they were
her own hands. There was the familiar little brown spot on the inside of
her third finger. Her dress? Yes, that was an old friend, the yellow and
red striped robe. She had worn it the day in the garden that she had
given her four scarlet poppies in exchange for little Three Legs.

Then it was true! She did see. But how had it happened? Why at the touch
of this Baby hand had her sight been restored?

"Ezra!" she called, not daring to stir. "Ezra!"

Ezra's face, white under the tan, showed itself round the stable door.

"Ezra," cried Naomi, "I can see! I can see! I know not how it is, but I
was blind and now I see! O Ezra, the Baby touched me and I can see!"

Ezra came swiftly forward. His eyes were full of tears, but his face was
radiant. He knelt before the Mother, who was watching the scene with
wondering eyes, and the Child, Who slept now in His Mother's arms. He
pulled Naomi down beside him.

"Naomi, it is the Christ Child," he whispered. "The Messiah has come!
Our Saviour lies before us! O Naomi, the Messiah hath opened the eyes of
the blind! The Lord hath heard my prayer!"

And bending low before Him, they worshiped at the Christ Child's feet.

CHAPTER VIII

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

The household of Samuel the weaver lay sleeping soundly. The dim light
of the small oil lamp revealed the figures of Samuel and his wife
wrapped in heavy slumber, with Jonas, rolled into a plump little ball,
at his mother's feet. Naomi lay close by with arms outstretched. Her
dreams were pleasant, for her lips were parted in a smile. Ezra was
missing. He was again spending the night in the fields with shepherd
Eli. The friendship between the old man and the lad had grown more deep
and strong since the night of the Angels' Visit, and they never wearied
of discussing the wonderful event and all the marvels that had followed
in its train.

These happenings had roused all the