And then, while the little songster went on, undismayed by its cage, a reaction set in.

If the soft-feathered creature could sing there beyond the bars, what right had she to doubt God for one second?
No--there should never be any disbelief.

It was only the winter, after all.

She was too young to die like the tree which had been there for some hundreds of years, She would be as brave as the bird, and those forces of nature which she had loved and trusted so long, would comfort her.
She sat there for a quarter of an hour saying her prayers and stilling the pain in her heart--and then she got up and deliberately went back to the dining-room, where the family were all assembled now.
They chaffed about everything, and were boisterous and jovial as usual, and when she asked if she might go and see her old master, should Mrs.
Anderton not wish especially for her company that morning, her stepfather offered to drive her there in his phaeton on his way to the city.
"She grows upon one, Lu," he said to his wife, when Halcyone had gone up to put on her hat.

"She is like some quiet, soothing book; she is a kind of comfort--but she looks confoundedly pale to-day.