" Carol had fallen
asleep! But as to the song, I think perhaps, I cannot say, she
heard it after all!
* * * * * * * * *
So sad an ending to a happy day! Perhaps--to those who were
left--and yet Carol's mother, even in the freshness of her grief,
was glad that her darling had slipped away on the loveliest day
of her life, out of its glad content, into everlasting peace.
She was glad that she had gone, as she had come, on wings of
song, when all the world was brimming over with joy; glad of
every grateful smile, of every joyous burst of laughter, of every
loving thought and word and deed the dear, last day had brought.
Sadness reigned, it is true, in the little house behind the
garden; and one day poor Sarah Maud, with a courage born of
despair, threw on her hood and shawl, walked straight to a
certain house a mile away, dashed up the marble steps and into
good Dr. Bartol's office, falling at his feet as she cried, "Oh,
sir, it was me an' our childern that went to Miss Carol's last
dinner party, an' if we made her worse we can't never be happy
again!" Then the kind old gentleman took her rough hand in his
and told her to dry her tears, for neither she nor any of her
flock had hastened Carol's flight--indeed, he said that had it
not been for the strong hopes and wishes that filled her tired
heart, she could not have stayed long enough to keep that last
merry Christmas with her dear ones.
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