crackled, the
pretty room was full of warmth and comfort; yet the girl shivered
violently, and gave a scared glance towards the window as the wind went
wailing round the house like a sobbing child. What gave her that
strange, restless feeling--that weariness of heart? She could hardly
tell; only somehow the world seemed all changed of late, and the
Christmas-tide so close at hand failed to afford the same joy and
gladness it had done heretofore. A great black cloud seemed to be
hiding all the sunshine from her sight; a heavy weight would keep
dragging at her heart-strings, and a continual thirst after revenge
persisted in haunting her every footstep.

Yet this time was a season of peace and holy joy--a time when hand
should clasp hand with the fervour of warm friendship, and all past
slights and wrongs be blotted out for ever, leaving room for naught in
the heart save the pure Christ-like love which makes this world a
heaven on earth. Night after night, as the Christmas-tide drew near,
the sky spread itself over all--one curtain, of misty blue, studded
with the bright, scintillating twinkle of myriads of happy stars.
Every evening the quiet, peaceful moon shone forth rounder and
mellower; the north wind tempered its cutting blasts and touched the
sleeping earth gently, gently with its icy fingers; and the
frost-sparkles, glistering from lofty steeple and sloping roof, changed
the dingy town to a veritable fairyland.

At first Nellie had often wondered why Miss Latimer took such an
interest in the outside world, and what beauty she could see in the
busy city with its constant din and bustle. But that was over now, for
she had learned that the nature-world was as an open book to Aunt
Judith--a treasury from which she brought forth gold, silver, and
precious stones, and scattered them throughout the world in the shape
of grand, beautiful thoughts.

Nellie found life very pleasant just now at the little cottage in
Broomhill Road. Miss Latimer and Aunt Debby vied with each other in
every endeavour to add to her comfort and happiness; while even Aunt
Meg roused herself occasionally from her selfish torpor and tried to
brighten the tiny home. She could gladden it wonderfully when she
chose, for Miss Margaret possessed many pleasing traits of character;
but, alas! she seldom did choose, and, as Miss Deborah quaintly
expressed it, "one had to endure innumerable showers of rain for one
gleam of sunshine." Nellie had