The Christmas Child | Page 4

were kept, and
the stalls were empty. The barn opened into it, and the deep black space
under the high roof of the barn served to deepen the delicious awe in
Joan's little heart. Rhoda herself trembled a little with a strange feeling
of seeking something which possibly might be found. She had never
realised so vividly that the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed born in a
stable and cradled in a manger; and she trod softly, with her heart
beating, like Joan's, faster than usual.
They stood still for a minute on the low door-sill, their lantern casting
its dim rays into the silent shed. Behind them was the deep breathing of
the cows, and the slow sound of their munching, and all about them
was the sweet, familiar scent of the hay. But this silent, empty spot,
half lit up by the lantern, seemed a strange, unfamiliar place they hardly
dared to enter. Rhoda lingered with a vague awe in her heart, whilst
little Joan grasped her hand as if in terror.
"Let us sing 'Hark! the herald angels!'" whispered Rhoda.
Very softly, with a timid and tremulous voice, Rhoda began the hymn,
and little Joan took it up in an undertone. They sang the verses through,
gathering courage as they did so. Then with solemn steps they
approached the manger and raised the lantern to look into its cradle
lined with hay. It was empty.
"I suppose Mary is gone somewhere else," said little Joan, half grieved;
"it was n't in her way to come here, p'rhaps, or you and me we'd have
been so glad, Rhoda!"
"Perhaps she 'll come next Christmas," answered Rhoda. "We 'll come
and look every Christmas morning, and sing our hymn, and perhaps we
shall find them some time--Mary, and Joseph, and the babe, wrapped in
swaddling clothes and lying in the manger. Now we'll go back, and
wake up aunty, and tell her all about it."
Aunt Priscilla hardly knew what to think of it. Rhoda had always been
given to "making believe." She had often played at being David killing

Goliath with a smooth pebble from the brook, or Ruth gleaning in the
fields, or the Queen of Sheba, with a crown of cowslips, visiting King
Solomon. For the last few years these fancies had left her, but they
were all coming back again with little Joan. And going to look for the
child Jesus in the manger; was it right or wrong? She spoke privately to
Nathan, and the old man smiled, though he shook his white head.
"They 'll grow older and wiser in time," he said; "and sure the Lord 'ud
never be angered wi' two young creatures seeking after Him in any
way!"
But when the next Christmas came all was changed at the farm-house
on the mountain. There had been no preparations made for keeping it as
a holiday, and no gathering of kinsfolk was invited by Priscilla Parry.
Nathan unbarred the kitchen-door, and lighted little Joan across the fold;
but she went into the stable alone, and stood on the threshold singing
the Christmas hymn with a sad, pale face that wore a lonely and
frightened expression. The manger was empty, as it had been the year
before; but the home seemed empty too.
All Joan knew of the beginning of this mournful change was, that she
awoke one pleasant sunny morning and found Rhoda gone.
That day Aunt Priscilla roamed about the farmstead and the scattered
fields her grandfather had enclosed upon the mountain, like one
distracted, calling everywhere for Rhoda. The farm-labourers loitered
about the fold and the little blacksmith's shop, whispering mysteriously
whenever Joan had been within hearing. There had been nobody to
keep them to their work, for Nathan was away all day, and did not
return till the late sunset was past and even the loftiest peak of the
highest mountain stood grey and dark against the sky.
Nobody had bade Joan to go to bed, and she was afraid of her little,
lonely, separate room, if Rhoda was not coming back to sleep with her.
Not a single word had Aunt Priscilla spoken to her all the day, and if
the young servant-girl had not given her some bread and a bowl of milk
she would have been left without food, for Aunt Priscilla had not eaten
a morsel, or sat down in the kitchen, since the early morning.

Joan had curled herself up in a corner of the oak settle, which stood as a
screen on one side of the corner fireplace, and had fallen fast asleep
there, when she was aroused by Nathan's voice. He spoke so quietly
and sadly that it did not quite awake her, and her drowsy ears took in
the sound as if