"Indeed we do. We'll always love you."
Noel smiled contentedly. Then after a pause he said: "Then will you be kind to my Chris'mas tree? Will you give him some water and take care of him?"
"I'll water him every day," Diana rashly promised.
The interview was over; but Noel began to recover rapidly. It was a happy day when he was downstairs again: and the first thing he did was to totter out into the garden, and make his way to his beloved fir tree.
It stood there, looking rather bedraggled, and showing a great gap where the branch had been cut off.
Noel was distressed at first, and then Chris, who was with him, said:
"He is like a soldier who has lost his arm in fighting for his King."
Noel's whole face brightened as he said:
"And he gave his branch to God for Jesus' birfday." He was comforted.
That same day, Bessie Sharpe came up to tell Mrs. Inglefield that her father had quietly passed away.