Page 487 of 896

That time passed, and her little Lucie lay on her bosom. Then,

among the advancing echoes, there was the tread of her tiny feet

and the sound of her prattling words. Let greater echoes resound

as they would, the young mother at the cradle side could always

hear those coming. They came, and the shady house was sunny with

a child's laugh, and the Divine friend of children, to whom in

her trouble she had confided hers, seemed to take her child in

his arms, as He took the child of old, and made it a sacred joy

to her.