I were only a little stronger!"

The one event that broke the monotony of her life after Miss Gertrude
went away was a visit from her sister Effie. The visit was quite
unlooked for. Christie returned from a walk with Claude one day, to
find her sister awaiting her in the upper nursery. To say that the
surprise was a joyful one would be saying little, yet after the first
tearful embrace, the joy of both sisters was manifested very quietly.
The visit was to be a very brief one. Two days at most were all that
Effie could spare from home and school. But a great deal may be said
and enjoyed in two days.

"How tall you have grown, Christie!" was Effie's first exclamation, when
she had let her sister go. "But you are not very strong yet, I am
afraid; you are very slender, and you have no colour, child."

"I am very well, Effie. You know I was always a `white-faced thing,' as
Aunt Elsie used to say. But you-- John was right. You are bonnier than
ever."

Effie laughed a little, but she looked grave enough in a minute.

"Are you lame still, Christie? I thought you were better of that."

"Oh, it is nothing, Effie. It is not the old lameness that used to
trouble me. I fell on the stairs the other day, and hurt my knee a
little, that is all. It is almost well now."

I could never tell of all the happy talk that passed between the sisters
during those two days, and if I could it would not interest my readers
as it interested them. Indeed, I dare say some of it would seem foolish
enough to them. But it was all very pleasant to Christie. Every
incident in their home life, everything that had taken place in their
neighbourhood since her departure, was fraught with interest to her.
She listened with delight to the detailed account of circumstances at
which Effie in her letters had only been able to hint; she asked
questions innumerable, and praised or blamed with an eagerness that
could not have been more intense had all these things been taking place
under her eyes.

The sunny side of their home life was presented to Christie, you may be
sure. The straits to which they had sometimes been reduced were passed
lightly over, while the signs of brighter days, which seemed to be
dawning upon them, were made the most of by Effie's hopeful spirit. The
kindness of one friend, and the considerateness of another in the time
of trouble, were dwelt on more earnestly than the straits that had
proved them. "God had been ve