suddenly there was a sound,—a dull reverberating sound. it seemed to miss terry to come from neither north, south, east, nor west, but from a different world. ah! she recognized it now. it was somebody knocking on the library door.
miss terry gave a long sigh and drew herself up in her chair. "it must be norah just come back," she said to herself. "i had forgotten norah completely. it must be shockingly late. come in," she called, as she glanced at the clock.
she rubbed her eyes and looked again. a few minutes after nine! she had thought it must be midnight!
norah entered to find her mistress staring at the mantel where the clock stood. she saw lying beside the clock the pink angel which had fallen from the box as she brought it in,—the box now empty by the fire.
"law, miss," she said, "have you burned them all up but him? i'm glad you saved him, he's so pretty."
"norah," said miss terry with an effort, "is that clock right?"
"yes'm," said norah. "i set it this morning. i came back as soon as i could, miss," she added apologetically.
"it isn't that," answered miss terry, drawing her hand across her forehead dazedly. "i did not mind your absence. but i thought it must be later."
"oh, no, i wouldn't stay out any later when you was alone here, miss," said norah penitently. "i felt ashamed after i had gone. i ought not to have left you so,—on christmas eve. but oh, miss! the singing was so beautiful, and the houses looked so grand with the candles in the windows. it is like a holy night indeed!"
miss terry stooped and picked up something from the floor. it was the bit of candle-end which had escaped the holocaust.
"are the candles still lighted, norah?" she asked, eyeing the bit of wax in her hand.
"yes'm, some of them," answered the maid. "it is getting late, and a good many have burned out. but some houses are still as bright as ever."
"perhaps it is not too late, then," murmured miss terry, as if yielding a disputed point. "let us hurry, norah."
she rose, and going to the mantel-shelf gently took up the figure of the angel, while norah looked on in amazement.
"norah," said miss terry, with an eagerness which made her voice tremble, "i want you to hang the christmas angel in the window there. i too have a fancy to burn a candle to-night. if it is not too late i'd like to have a little share in the christmas spirit."
norah's eyes lighted. "oh, yes'm," she said. "i'll hang it right away. and i'll find an empty spool to hold the candle."
she bustled briskly about, and presently in the window appeared a little device unlike any other in the block. against the darkness within, the figure of the angel with arms outstretched towards the street shone in a soft light from the flame of a single tiny candle such as blossom on christmas trees.
it caught the attention of many home-goers, who said, smiling, "how simple! how pretty! how quaint! it is a type of the christmas spirit which is abroad to-night. you can feel it everywhere, blessing the city."
for some minutes before the candle was lighted, a man muffled in a heavy overcoat had been standing in a doorway opposite miss terry's house. he was tall and grizzled and his face was sad. he stared up at the gloomy windows, the only oblongs of blackness in the illuminated block, and he shivered, shrugging his shoulders.
"the same as ever!" he said to himself. "i might have known she would never change. any one else, on christmas eve, after the letter i wrote her, would have softened a little. but i might have known. she is hard as nails! of course, it was my fault in the first place to leave her as i did. but when i acknowledged it, and when i wrote that letter on christmas eve, i thought angelina might feel differently." he looked at his watch. "nearly half-past nine," he muttered. "i may as well go home. she said she wanted to be let alone; that christmas meant nothing to her. i don't dare to call,—on my only sister! i suppose she is there all alone, and here i am all alone, too. what a pity! if i saw the least sign—"
just then there was the spark of a match against the darkness framed in by the window opposite. a hand and arm shone in the flicker of light across the upper sash. a tiny spark, tremulous at first, like a bird alighting on a frail branch, paused, steadied, and became fixed. in the light of a small taper the man caught a glimpse of a pale, long face in a frame of silver hair. it faded into the background. but above the candle he now saw, with arms outstretched as it seemed toward himself, a pink little angel with gauzy wings.
the man's heart gave a leap. sudden memories thronged his brain, making him almost dizzy. at last they formulated into one smothered cry. "the christmas angel! it is the very same pink angel that angelina and i used to hang on our christmas tree!"
in three great leaps, like a schoolboy, he crossed the street and ran up the steps of number 87. the christmas angel seemed to smile with ineffable sweetness as he gave the bell a vigorous pull.
