“Go in peace, friend,” said Joseph.
And the sad shepherd took up his battered staff, and went on his way rejoicing.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] From “The Unknown Quantity”; copyright, 1916, by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission of the publishers.
CHRISTMAS BREAD[20]
Kathleen Norris
“But what time will your operation be over, mother?”
A silence. The surgeon opened three letters, looked at them, tore them in two, cast them aside, glanced at her newspaper, glanced at her coffee cup, and took a casual sip of the smoking liquid. But she did not answer.
“If you were thr-r-rough at ’leven o’clock—” Merle began again hopefully. She paid some attention to consonants, because until recently she had called through “froo,” and she was anxious to seem grown-up. “I could go to the hospital with Miss Frothingham,” she suggested, “and wait for you?”
“I thought Miss Frothingham was going to take you to Mrs. Winchester’s?” Doctor Madison countered in surprise, at last giving a partial attention to her little daughter. “Don’t you want to spend Christmas Day with little Betty?” she went on, easily, half-absently. “It seems to me that is a very nice plan—straighten your shoulders, dear. It seems to me that it was extremely nice of Mrs. Winchester to want you to come. Most people want only their own families on Christmas Day!”