At length the last paper falls aside. The lid is lifted, and joy breaks forth.
“A fur tippet!”
“A Noah’s ark!”
“To match my muff, dear, kind husband.”
“With a Noah on wheels, dear papa. I do love you so.”
They throw themselves on my neck, four arms are clasped round me at once. Emotion gets the better of me, and a tear steals into my eye. There are two in those of my wife, and Baby, losing his head, sobs as he kisses my hand.
It is absurd.
Absurd, I don’t know; but delightful, I can answer for it.
Does not grief, after all, call forth enough tears for us to forgive joy the solitary one she perchance causes us to shed!
Life is not so sweet for us to risk ourselves in it singlehanded, and when the heart is empty the way seems very long.