"Are you going to this meeting to-night?" said Annie, as Angel turned to go.
"No, I'm not going," said Angel; "but father and mother are. I must mind the children."
"I'll tell you what," said Annie; "if you'll bring them in here, I'll mind them. I can't leave aunt, and they'll be a bit of company for her."
And so it came to pass that Pleasant Place beheld the wonderful sight of Mr. and Mrs. Blyth and Angel all going together to the little meeting in the schoolroom.
A good many Pleasant Place people were there; and they looked round in astonishment as Mr. Blyth came in, for they thought him about the most unlikely man in the whole court to be there. And his wife and little Angel, as they sat beside him, prayed very earnestly that he might get a blessing.
Mr. Douglas's text was a very strange one for Christmas Day—at least, so many of the people thought when he gave it out. It had only four words, so that even little Angel could remember it quite well—
"GIVE ME THINE HEART."
"Suppose," said the minister, "it was my birthday, and every one in my house was keeping it. They all had a holiday and went out into the country, and there was a very good dinner, which they all very much enjoyed, and altogether it was a very pleasant day to them indeed."
"But suppose that I, whose birthday it was, was quite left out of it. No one gave me a single present; no one even spoke to me; no one took the slightest notice of me. In fact, all day long I was quite forgotten; I never once came into their thoughts."
"Nay, more. Not only did they do nothing whatever to give me pleasure, but they seemed all day long to take a delight in doing the very things which they knew grieved me and pained me, and were distressing to me."