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I I Addffional comments/ ' — ' Commentairessuppiementaires: Thii Itm is fihTMd at tlw rtduetion ratio ehaekad balow/ Ct documant an f ilmi au " and he cutfed Hyacinthe's ears again furiously. Hyacinthe knew that the making of the cabinet would fall to him, as most of the other work did. When Pierre L'Oreil- lard was gone he touched the strange sweet wood and at last laid his cheek against it, while the f rangrance caught his breath. "How it is beautiful ! " said Hya- cinthe, and for a moment his eyes glowed, and he was happy. Then the light passed, and with bent head he shuffled back to his bench through a foam of white shav- ings curling almost to his knees. "Madame will want the cabinet for Christmas," repeated Hyacinthe to him- lelf, and fell to woik harder than ever, though it wa$ lo cold in the ahed that hit breath hung id the air like a Uttle lilveiy cloud. There wat a tiny window on hit right, through which, when it wat clear of frott, one looked on Terminaiton; and that wat cheerful, and made him whittle. But to the left, through the chink of the ill-6tting door, there wat nothing to be teen but the forett, and the road dying away in it, and the treet moving heavily under the tnow. Brandy Wat good at the Cinq Cha- teaux and Pierre L'Oreillard gave Hya- cinthe plenty of direction!, but no furdier help with the cabinet. "That it to be finished for Madame at the festival, sluggard," said he every day, cuffing Hyacmthe about the head, "fin- ished, and with a prettinett about the cor- ners, heaiest thou, ounonf" "Yes, monsieur," said Hyacinthe in his slow way; "I will try to finish it. But if I hurry I shall spoil it." Pierre's little eyes flickered. "See that it is done, and done properly. I suffer from a delicacy of the constitution and a little feebleness of the legs these days, to *i iij iliat I cannot handle the tools properiy. I mutt leave diii work to thee, gieheur. And stand up and touch a hand to thy cap when I ipeak to thee, »Iow-wonn." "Yet, montieur," said Hyacindie wearily. It it hard to do all the work and to be beaten into the bargain. And fourteen it not very old. Hyacindie worked on at tlie cabinet with hit tlow and exquitite ikill. But on Chriitmai eve he was ttill a work, and the cabinet unfinithed. "The nutter will beat me," thought Hyacinthe, and he trembled a little, for Pierre't beatingt were cruel. "But if I hurry, I tiiall tpoil the wood, and it it too beautiful to be ipoiled." But he trembled again when Pierre came into the workdiop, and he ttood up and touched hit cap. "It the cabinet finished, imbecile?" asked Pierre. And Hyacinthe antwered in a low voice, "No, it it not finithed yet, monsieur." "Then work on it all night, and show it to me completed in the morning, or thy bones shall mourn thine idleness," said Pierre, with a wicked look in his little cya. And he ihut Hyacinihe into ihe ihed with a imoky lamp, hi* tools, and the sandalwood cabinet. It was nothing unusual. He had been often left before to finish a piece of work overnight while Pierre went otf to his brandies. But this was Christmas eve, and he was very tired. Even the scent of the sandalwood could not make him fancy he was warm. The world seemed to be a black place, full of suffering and despair. ^ "In all the world, 1 have no friend," said Hyacinthe, staring at the flame of the lamp. "In all the world, there is no one to care whether I live or die. In all the world, no place, no heart, no love. O kind God, is there a place, a love for me in another world?" I hope you feel very sorry for Hya- cinthe, lonely, and cold, and hungry, shut up in the workshop on the eve of Christ- mas. He was but an overgrown, unhappy child. And I think with old Madame that for unhappy children, at this season, no help seems too divine for faith. "There is no one to care for me," ^id Hyacinthe. And he even looked at the To I child in hit hand, thinking that by a touch of that he might lose it all. and be at peace, (omewhere not far from God. Only it wa« forbidden. Then came the tears, and great lobs that shook him. so / that he scarcely lu ;d the gentle rattling ^ of the latch. g He stumbled to the door, opening it on ^ the still woods and the frosty stars. And a lad who stood outside in the snow said, "I see you are working late, comrade. May I come in?" Hyacinlhe brushed his ragged sleeve across his eyes and nodded "Yes." 1 hose little villages strung along the great river see strange wayfarers at times. And Hyacinthe said to himself that surely here was such a one. Blinking into the stran- ger's eyes, he lost for a flash the first impression of youth, and received one of some incredible age or sadness. But the wanderer's eyes were only quiet, very quiet, like the little pools in the wood where the wild does went to drink. As he turned within the door, smiling at Hya- cinthe and shaking some snow from his cap, he did not seem to be more than six- teen or so. ""'^^^^fTYUBRMr > "It it very cold outade." he mmL "There i« • big oak tree on the edge of the fieldf that hM iplit in the fro*l and frightened all the little tquineli asleep there. Next year it will make an even better home for them. And lee what I found cloie by I" He opened hit finger* and showed Hyacinthe a little sparrow lying unruffled in the palm. "Pauvrellel" said the dull Hyacinthe. "Pauvretlel I* it then dead)" He touched it >t(ith a gende forefinger. "No," answered the stran-re boy, "it it not dead. We will put it here among the shaving*, not far from the lamp, and it will be well by die morning." He nailed at Hyacinthe again, and die shambling lad felt dimly as if the scent of the sandalwood were sweeter, and the lamp-flame clearer. But the stranger's eyes were only quiet, quiet. "Have you come far?" asked Hya- cinthe. "It is a bad season for traveling, and the wolves are out." "A long way," saia the other. "A long, long way. I heard a child cry " "There is no child here," put in Hya- cinthe. "Monsieur L'Oreillard says chil- "/ see fou are vmlpng late, comrait. Maf I come inf" dren cost too much money. But if you have come far, you must need food and fire, and I have neither. At the Cinq Chateaux you will find both." Tlie stranger looked at him again vyith those quiet eyes, and Hyacinthe fancied that his face was familiar. "I will stay here," he said ; "you are late at work, and you are unhappy." "Why as to that," answered Hya- cinthe, rubbing his cheeks and ashamed of his tears, "nvost of us are sad at one time or another, the good God knows. Stay here and welcome if it pleases you; and you may take a share of my bed, though it is no more th^r; u pile of balsam boughs and an old blanket in the loft. But I must work at this cabinet, for the drawers must be finished and the handles put on and the comers carved, all by the holy morning; or my wages will be paid with a stick." "You have a hard master," put in the other, "if he would pay you with blows upon the feast of Noel." "He is hard enou^," said Hyacinthe, "but once he gave me a dinner of sau- sages and white wine; and once, in the summer, melons. If my eyes will open, I will finish this by morning, with me an hour or so, comrade, and talk to me of your travels, so that the time may pass more quickly." "I will tell you of the country where I was a child," answered the stranger. And while Hyacinthe worked, he told, — of sunshine and dust, of the shadow of vine-leaves on the flat white walls of a house; of rosy doves on the roof; of the flowers that come out in the spring, anemo- nes crimson and blue, and white cyclamen in the shadow of the rocks; of the olive, the myrtle, and the almond; until Hya- cinthe's fingers ceased working, and his sleepy eyes blinked wonderingly. "Seo what you have done, comrade," he said at last, "you have told me of such pretty things that I have done but little work for an hour. And now the cabinet will never be finished, and I shall be beaten." "Let me help you," smiled the other, "I also was bred a carpenter." At first Hyacinthe would not, fearing to trust the sweet wood out of his own hands. But at length he allowed the 11 stay M^ Stay ifjL \ stranger to fit in one of the little drawer*. And M deftly was it done that Hya- cinthe pounded his fists on the bench in admiration. "You have a pretty knack." he cried. "It seemed as if you did but hold the drawer in your hands a moment, and hey I hoi it jumped into its place." "Let me fit in the other little drawers while you rest awhile," said the stranger. So Hyacinthe curled up among the shav- ings, and the odier boy fell to work upon . the little cabinet of sandalwood. Hyacinthe was very tired. He lay still among the Savings, and thought of all the other boy had told him, of the hill- side flowers, the lauding leaves, the golden bloom of the anise, and the golden sun upon the roads until he was warm. And all the time the boy with the quiet eyes was at work upon die cabinet, smoothing, fitting, polishing. "You do better work than I." said Hyacinthe once, and the stranger an- swered, "I was lovingly tau{^t." And again Hyacinthe said, "It is growing to- wards morning. In a little while I will get up and help you." "Lie still and rest," said the other boy. And Hyacinthe lay still. His thoughts began to slide into dreams, and he woke with a little start, for there seemed to be music in the shed; thou^ he could not tell whether it came from the strange boy's lips, or from die shabby tools as he used them, or from the stars. rhe stars are much paler," thought Hyacinthe. "Soon it will be morning, and the comers are not carved yet. I must get up and help this kind one in a little moment. Only the music and the sweetness seem to fold me close, so that I may not move." Then behmd the forest there shone a pale glow of dawn, and in Terminaison the church bells began to ring. "Day will soon be here," thought Hycuinthe, "and with day will come Monsieur L'Oreillard and his stick. I must get up and help, for even yet the comers are not carved." But the stranger looked at him, smiling as though he loved him, and laid his brown finger lig}>*ly on the four empty comers of the ci inet. And Hyacinthe^ saw the squares of reddish wood ripple and heave and break, as little clouds when . L' the wind goes throu«}i the iky. And out ^ of them thrust forth die little birds, and ■ %^ after them the lilies, for a moment living; W but even as Hyacinthe looked, settling back into the sweet reddish-brown wood. Then the stranger smiled again, laid all the tools in order, and. opening the door, went away into the woods. Hyacinthe crept slowly to the door. The winter sun, half risen, filled all the frosty air with splendid goki. Far down the road a figwe seemed to move amid the glory, but the splendor was such that Hyacinthe was bl'nded. His breath came sharply as the glow beat on the wretched shed, on the old Savings, on the cabinet with the little birds and the lilies carved at the comers. He was too pure of heart to feel afraid. But "Blessed be the Lord," whiq>ered Hyacinthe, clasping his slow hands, "for he hath visited and redeemed His people. But who will believe?" Then the sun of Christ's day rose glori- ously, and the little sparrow came from his nest among the shavings and shook his Wings to the Iig}it.