"Oh! there's the poor girl with the baby, that lives in the cellar,
Biddy!" said little May Minturn, a few weeks after she had given her the
blanket. "See how fat the baby's grown!" and the child ran after Nannie,
who was walking at a quick pace to avoid her, for she would gladly have
hidden from her the fate of her gift; but May was not to be shunned, and
she pulled at Nannie's shawl as she came up with her, and said, "Don't
carry the baby away, I want to see her. Oh! she looks more like my sissy
now, for she's got a little pink in her cheeks; but what have you done
with the blanket? this isn't half so pretty as the one I gave you," and
she looked inquiringly at Nannie, who had seated herself upon some steps
to rest, and pulled aside the flannel that enveloped the babe, thus
exposing its naked feet.
"Don't be offended, miss, and I'll tell you what became of it," said
Nannie; "before Winnie had time to wear it once, some one took it from
her and sold it. I sorrowed for it a great deal, but that wouldn't bring
it back, and now Winnie must wear this one; 'twill keep her warm, but I
know it isn't pretty."
"Are not you afraid in that dark room?" asked May, sitting down on the
step beside the girl, and taking hold of the baby's hand.
"Oh! we don't live there now," said Nannie, in a gleeful tone. "We have
a beautiful home way up close by heaven!" and she gazed up into the sky
and felt how much further off she then was than in her new home.
"May I go there to see you?" said the little girl, "and will you go with
me to heaven to see my brother a little while? Mamma says he's there,
and I'd like so much to play with him!"
"But we can not go there till we die," replied Nannie. "I look up from
my window sometimes until I think I see the angels, and then I almost
want to fly right away to them; but Mr. Bond says God will take us when
he wants us, and that it is wicked to be impatient."
"Did you see my Georgie up there?" asked May, drawing closer to Nannie,
and looking still more earnestly at her. "He had on a white frock, with
a satin ribbon around his waist, and he had curls just like mine and
sissy's. If you say Georgie, Georgie, perhaps he'll answer you as he
used to mamma. Don't you think God will take us pretty soon?" continued
she, patting the baby's head, and leaning over to kiss its brow, "I'm
all ready to go, and Georgie wants me, too."
"Shure, and the child'll be an angel before long, I'm thinking!" said
Biddy, as May arose and took her hand to go home; "the misthress would
be greeting sair if she heard all her little prattle."
Nannie gazed after the wee figure as it went up the street beside the
nurse, and then she looked at the baby that was nestling its tiny head
upon her bosom, and she felt that there was a sort of mysterious link
between Winnie and the sweet child whose kiss was fresh upon her
forehead. The feeling made her shudder, and she hugged her little sister
closer to her breast, as she thought,
"Mayhap both may soon be wanted above!"
Home did not look so bright to her that evening. Something seemed to be
threatening evil, and she sat listless and abstracted, when her mother
came home, looking from the window. She did not even see her mother,
until she put a hand upon each of her shoulders and asked her "if she
was napping?"
"Oh! no, mother, I'm not dozing, and I'm not ill; but there's something
coming to Winnie, I know there is. It isn't long that she'll brighten
the house!" said Nannie, trembling with emotion.
"Don't be foolish, child," said her mother, after she had ascertained
that her precious babe was sleeping sweetly in its cradle, "Winnie's
growing stout and healthy, and it's thankful we should be, instead of
fretting for fear there'll be sorrow to come."
Nannie shook her head mournfully, and took her knitting from the table,
but her heart was more busy with its sad reflections than were her
fingers with the young babe's sock. She did not even notice Pat much
that evening; but merely took the great apple that he handed her with a
quiet "thank ye;" and then relapsed into her silent and thoughtful mood.
Pat would not stay to sit down, for Nannie had not seconded her mother's
invitation, and the disappointed boy only lingered to take one peep
under the curtain of the cradle of Winnie, and then went home to his
abode with a downcast mien, and a slow gait.