The cheeks and lips that were once as red as holly-berries faded
to faint pink; the star-like eyes grew softer, for they often
gleamed through tears; and the gay child-laugh, that had been
like a chime of Christmas bells, gave place to a smile so lovely,
so touching, so tender and patient, that it filled every corner
of the house with a gentle radiance that might have come from the
face of the Christ-child himself.
Love could do nothing; and when we have said that we have said
all, for it is stronger than anything else in the whole wide
world. Mr. and Mrs. Bird were talking it over one evening when
all the children were asleep. A famous physician had visited
them that day, and told them that sometime, it might be in one
year, it might be in more, Carol would slip quietly off into
heaven, whence she came.
"Dear heart," said Mr. Bird, pacing up and down the library
floor, "it is no use to shut our eyes to it any longer; Carol
will never be well again. It almost seems as if I could not bear
it when I think of that loveliest child doomed to lie there day
after day, and, what is still more, to suffer pain that we are
helpless to keep away from her.
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