demon was working his will and cold and weariness were his soon she felt nothing but a supreme immediate longing that off all � the longing to lie down and sleep she had arrived at a spot where her footsteps were no longer checked by a and she had wandered unable to distinguish any objects notwithstanding the whiteness around her and the growing she sank down against a straggling bush an easy pillow enough and the bed of snow too was soft she did not feel that the bed was cold and did not heed whether the child would wake and cry for her but her arms had not yet relaxed their instinctive clutch and the little one on as gently as if it had been rocked in a lace trimmed cradle but the complete came at last the fingers lost their the arms then the little head fell away firom the bosom and the blue eyes opened wide on the cold at first there was a little cry of and an to regain the arm and bosom but s ear was deaf and the pillow seemed to be slipping away backward suddenly as the child rolled downward on its mother s knees all wet with snow its were caught by a bright glancing on the white ground and with the ready transition of infancy it was absorbed in watching the bright living running towards it yet never arriving that bright living thing must be caught and in an instant the child had on ail and held oat one little hand to catch the gleam bat the gleam would not caught in that way and now the head was held up to see where the cunning gleam came from it came from a very bright place and the little one ing on its legs through the snow the old shawl in which it was wrapped trailing behind it and the queer little bonnet dangling at its back on to the open door of s cottage and right up to the warm hearth where there was a bright fire of logs and sticks which hi thoroughly warmed the old sack s great coat spread out on the bricks to dry the little one accustomed to be left to itself for long hours without notice from its mother down on the sack and spread its tiny hands towards the in perfect contentment and making many to the cheerful fire like a new beginning to find itself comfortable but the warmth had a and the little golden head sank down on the old sack and the blue eyes were veiled by their delicate parent but where was while this strange visitor had to his hearth he was in the but he did not see the child during the last few weeks since he had lost his money he bad contracted the habit of opening his door and looking out from time to time as if he thought that his money might be ow coming back to him or that some trace some news of it might be mysteriously on the road and be caught by the listening ear or the straining eye it was chiefly at night when he was not occupied with his loom that he fell into this repetition of an act for which he could have assigned no definite purpose and which can hardly be understood except by those who have undergone a bewildering separation from a loved object in the evening twilight and later whenever the night was not dark si looked out on that narrow prospect round the stone listening and gazing not hope but with mere yearning and this morning he had been told by some of his neighbors that it was new year s eve and that he must sit up and hear the old year rung out and the new rung in because that was good luck and might bring his money back again this was only a friendly way of with the half crazy of a but it had perhaps helped to throw into a more than usually excited state since the of twilight he had opened his door again and again only to shut it immediately at seeing all distance veiled by the falling snow but the last time he opened it the snow had ceased and the clouds were parting here and there he stood and listened and gazed for a long � there was really something on the road coming towards him then but he caught no sign of it and the stillness and the wide snow seemed to narrow his solitude and touched his yearning with the chill of despair he went in again and put his right hand on the latch of the door to close it � but he did not close it he was arrested as he had been already since his loss by the invisible of and stood like a image with wide but eyes holding open his door powerless to resist either the good or evil that might enter there when s sensibility returned he continued the action which had been arrested and closed his door unaware of the chasm in his consciousness unaware of any change except that the light had grown dim and that he was chilled and faint he thought he had been too long standing at the door and looking out turning towards the hearth where the two logs had fallen apart and sent forth only a red uncertain glimmer he seated himself on his fireside chair and was stooping to push his logs together when to his vision it seemed as if there were gold on the floor in front of the hearth gold � his own gold � brought back to him as mysteriously as it had been taken away he felt his heart begin to beat violently and for a few moments he was unable to stretch out his hand and grasp the restored treasure the heap of 