CHAPTER X
IN THE WOOD.
“I must hurry,” said Kitty, setting off at a run. There was a sense of haste in her little heart. Never before had she felt such a sense of hurry.
The star glided over the tree-tops; it seemed to be sailing along the sky. Steadily, steadily, but swiftly it held its even course high above the world, and all its troubles, and naughtiness, and folly, and as Kitty looked at it her feet seemed to move more quickly. Every now and then her guardian child stroked her cheek with his little pink wing, and whispered, “Hurry, Kitty, hurry, that Johnnie may get well on Christmas Day.”
Kitty did not peep round to her left shoulder; she had made up her mind not to give so much as a glance toward the creature crouching there. It was very quiet now. Kitty would scarcely have known it was there.
The star ran along in the sky. Kitty ran along on the path; her dress fluttered; her hair streamed behind her. Haste! haste! She must be home by Christmas morning. She must win that Christmas blessing, Johnnie’s health.
The road after awhile began to grow very steep. On—on, Kitty climbed bravely, her eyes fixed on the star, and her guardian child whispered, “Well done, Kitsy! well done, Kitsy!”
She fancied that as the road grew steeper the naughty sprite seemed to be uneasy and on the watch.
All at once the road led through the loneliest, shadiest spot she had ever seen. Green and softly the light came through a curtain of trees that locked their branches into each other. There were mossy dells through which the ivy crept and flowers spread. Red poppies flashed; purple hemlocks rose in clusters; faint-colored blossoms made a track in the grass as if the Milky Way had fallen from the sky and stretched there. A stream gurgled drowsily along, and dreamy white lilies rocked softly upon their leafy pillows. There was a drone and bu-zz-zz of insects through the air, and the swish of a distant waterfall that might be seen through the trees like a white curtain swaying softly.