At last he put his hand on her head, and whispered, "What ails my little girl ?" And then his little girl sobbed and cried, as she had been ready to do all day, and kissed his trembling hand, and went and hid on her mother's neck, and left Stephen to say everything for her.

And I think you and I had better come away.
It was quite dark before they had done talking,--quite dark; the wood-fire had charred down into a great bed of crimson; the tea stood till it grew cold, and no one drank it.
The old man got up at last, and Holmes led him to the library, where he smoked every evening.

He held Maggie, as he called her, in his arms a long time, and wrung Holmes's hand.

"God bless you, Stephen!" he said,--"this is a very happy Christmas-day to me." And yet, sitting alone, the tears ran over his wrinkled face as he smoked; and when his pipe went out, he did not know it, but sat motionless.

Mrs.Howth, fairly confounded by the shock, went up-stairs, and stayed there a long time.