to get into no conversation with her during the day, that she might be
quite fresh. In the evening, when I went into her room again with my Bible
in my hand, I found all our little company assembled. There was a glorious
fire, for it was very cold, and the little ones were seated on the rug
before it, one on each side of their mother; Wynnie sat by the further side
of the bed, for she always avoided any place or thing she thought another
might like; and Dora sat by the further chimney-corner, leaving the space
between the fire and my chair open that I might see and share the glow.

"The wind is very high, papa," said Constance, as I seated myself beside
her.

"Yes, my dear. It has been blowing all day, and since sundown it has blown
harder. Do you like the wind, Connie?"

"I am afraid I do like it. When it roars like that in the chimneys, and
shakes the windows with a great rush as if it _would_ get into the house
and tear us to pieces, and then goes moaning away into the woods and
grumbles about in them till it grows savage again, and rushes up at us with
fresh fury, I am afraid I delight in it. I feel so safe in the very jaws of
danger."

"Why, you are quite poetic, Connie," said Wynnie.

"Don't laugh at me, Wynnie. Mind I'm an invalid, and I can't bear to be
laughed at," returned Connie, half laughing herself, and a little more than
a quarter crying.

Wynnie rose and kissed her, whispered something to her which made her laugh
outright, and then sat down again.