"How is it that I can then? I'm sure I don't know."
"It is a gift born with you. And one day I hope everybody will have it."
"But how do you make it shine through the walls?"
"Ah! that you would not understand if I were to try ever so much to
make
you--not yet--not yet. But," added the lady rising, "you must sit in my
chair while I get you the present I have been preparing for you. I told
you my spinning was for you. It is finished now, and I am going to
fetch
it. I have been keeping it warm under one of my brooding pigeons."
Irene sat down in the low chair, and her grandmother left her, shutting
the door behind her. The child sat gazing, now at the rose-fire, now at
the starry walls, now at the silvery light; and a great quietness came
over her heart. If all the long-legged cats in the world had come
rushing helter-skelter at her then, she would not have been afraid of
them for a single moment. How this was, however, she could not
tell;--she only knew there was no fear in her, and everything was so
right and safe that it could not get in.
Madhuri Noah
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