"Oh, I wish he was blind!" she once said, in anger, when his soft blue
eyes had been extolled in her hearing and compared with her own, which
were black as midnight and bright as the wintry stars.

And, as if in answer to her wish, an accident occurred not long after,
which darkened forever the eyes which had caused her so much annoyance.
Just how it happened no one knew. The two children had been playing in
the dining-room, when a great crash was heard, and a wild cry, and Robin
was found upon the floor screaming with agony, while near him lay a
broken cup, which had contained a quantity of red pepper, which the
housemaid had left upon the sideboard until ready to replenish the
caster. Lucy was crying, too, with pain, for the fiery powder was in her
eyes, also. But she had not received as much as Robin, who from that
hour, never again saw the light of day.

There were weeks of fearful suffering when the little hands were tied to
keep them from the eyes which the poor baby, who was only two years and
a half old, said, "Bite Robin so bad," and which, when at last the pain
had ceased, and the inflammation subsided, were found to be hopelessly
blind.

"Blind! blind! Oh, Robin, I wish I was dead!" Lucy had exclaimed, when
they told her the sad news, and with a bitter cry she threw herself
beside her brother on his little bed and sobbed piteously. "Oh, Robbie,
Robbie, you must not be blind! Can't you see me just a little? Try,
Robbie. You must see me; _you must_."

Slowly the lids unclosed, and the sightless eyes turned upward toward
the white face above them, and then Lucy saw there was no hope; the