PATSY FINDS HIS THREE LOST YEARS.

"Now God be thanked for years enwrought
With love which softens yet.
Now God he thanked for every thought
Which is so tender it has caught
Earth's guerdon of regret."


Well, Jim did not succeed in finding his girl, although he "looked"
industriously. Either the "millingnaries" did not smile upon him and his
slender bank account, or they were not willing to wash the dishes and
halve the financial responsibilities besides; but as the winter days
slipped by, we could not help seeing that Patsy's pale face grew paler
and his soft dark eyes larger and more pathetic. In spite of better care
than he had ever had before, he was often kept at home by suffering all
too intense for a child to bear. It was almost as if a sixth sense came
to him in those days, so full was he of strange thoughts and intuitions.
His eyes followed me wistfully as I passed from one child to another,
and when my glance fell upon him, his loving gaze seemed always waiting
for mine.

When we were alone, as he pored over picture-books, or sat silently by
the window, watching the drops chase each other down the pane, his talk
was often of heaven and the angels.

[Illustration: "HE SAT SILENTLY BY THE WINDOW."]

Daga Ohlsen had left us. Her baby eyes had opened under Norway skies,