"Happy new year, mother--father," he murmured, with an added word which
sounded like "my trumpet."

"That beloved trumpet," said Joyce, laughing. "I let him take it out
into the garden after dinner, and give one great blow; but he was so
loyal, he came and hid it again, out of sight, saying, 'If father heard
that, it was only just _once_.'"

"Dear old boy!" Gilbert said. "I shall not forget his self-denial
learned from his mother."

"Nay," she said, playfully, "I do not quite wish to blow trumpets."

"Not your own, certainly," was the quiet rejoinder.

They did not forget baby Joy. Her cradle was in their own room; and
Joyce called her husband to look at her, and wish her the "happy new
year," as he had wished the others.

"A happy new year to my little Joy," he said.

The baby moved a little, and, throwing one fat arm behind her head, a
flickering smile played over her face, a light rather than a smile, such
as comes over the faces of the little ones sometimes when in sleep,
their angels draw near.

It was one of those supreme moments in life, which do not find
expression in many words:--

"A happy new year to you, my little Joy," Joyce repeated, and then there
was silence, while--

"Two faces o'er the cradle bent,
Two hands above the head were locked,
These pressed each other while they rocked,
Those watched a life that Love had sent.
O solemn hour!
O hidden power!"

THE END

WILLIAM RIDER AND SON, PRINTERS. BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE, LONDON.

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