The Christmas Peace | Page 9

the first train next morning.
Then, to escape from his thoughts, he strolled out in the street where
the shopping crowds streamed along, old and young, poor and
well-to-do, their arms full of bundles, their faces eager, and their eyes
alight.
General Hampden seemed to himself to be walking among ghosts.
As he stalked on, bitter and lonely, he was suddenly run into by a very
little boy, in whose small arms was so big a bundle that he could
scarcely see over it. The shock of the collision knocked the little fellow
down, sitting flat on the pavement, still clutching his bundle. But his
face after the first shadow of surprise lit up again.
"I beg your pardon, sir--that was my fault," he said, with so quaint an
imitation of an old person that the General could not help smiling. With
a cheery laugh, he tried to rise to his feet, but the bundle was too heavy,
and he would not let it go.
The General bent over him and, with an apology, set him on his feet.
"I beg your pardon, sir. That was my fault. That is a pretty big bundle
you have."
"Yes, sir; and I tell you, it is pretty heavy, too," the manikin said,
proudly. "It 's a Christmas gift." He started on, and the General turned
with him.
"A Christmas gift! It must be a fine one. Who gave it to you?"
demanded the General, with a smile at the little fellow's confidence.

"It is a fine one! Did n't anybody give it to me. We 're giving it to
somebody."
"Oh! You are? To whom?"
"I 'll tell you; but you must promise not to tell."
"I promise I will not tell a soul. I cross my heart."
He made a sign as he remembered he used to do in his boyhood.
The boy looked up at him doubtfully with a shade of disapproval.
"My grandfather says that you must not cross your heart--'t a
gentleman's word is enough," he said, quaintly.
"Oh, he does? Well, I give my word."
"Well--" He glanced around to see that no one was listening, and
sidling a little nearer, lowered his voice: "It 's a great-coat for
grandfather!"
"A great-coat! That's famous!" exclaimed the General.
"Yes, is n't it? You see--he 's mighty old and he 's got a bad cough--he
caught it in the army, and I have to take care of him. Don't you think
that's right?"
"Of course, I do," said the General, envying one grandfather.
"That's what I tell him. So mamma and I have bought this for him."
"He must be a proud grandfather," said the General, with envy biting
deeper at his heart.
"I have another grandfather; but I don't like him," continued the little
fellow.
"I am sorry for that," said the General, sincerely. "Why is that?"

"He was mean to my father, and he is mean to my mother." His voice
conveyed a sudden bitterness.
"Oh!"
"Mamma says I must like him; but I do not. I just can't. You would not
like a man who was mean to your mother, would you!"
"I would not," declared the General, truthfully.
"And I am not going to like him," asserted the boy, with firmness.
The General suddenly pitied one grandfather.
They had come to a well-lighted corner, and as the boy lifted his face,
the light fell on it. Something about the bright, sturdy countenance with
its frank, dark eyes and brown hair suddenly sent the General back
thirty years to a strip of meadow on which two children were playing:
one a dark-eyed boy as sturdy as this one. It was like an arrow in his
heart. "With a gasp he came back to the present. His thoughts pursued
him even here.
"What is your name?" he asked as he was feeling in his pocket for a
coin.
"Oliver Drayton Hampden, sir."
The words were perfectly clear.
The General's heart stopped beating and then gave a bound. The skies
suddenly opened for him and then shut up again.
His exclamation brought the child to a stop and he glanced up at him in
vague wonder. The General stooped and gazed at him searchingly,
almost fiercely. The next second he had pounced upon him and lifted
him in his arms while the bundle fell to the pavement.
"My boy! I am your grandfather," he cried, kissing him violently. "I am
your grandfather Hampden."

The child was lost in amazement for a moment, and then, putting his
hands against the General's face, he pushed him slowly away.
"Put me down, please," he said, with that gravity which in a child
means so much.
General Hampden set him down on the pavement. The boy looked at
him searchingly for a second, and then