But of all the joyous hours, none was more welcome to the child than
that after the simple supper was cleared away and the room "redded
up." Then, while fire and lamplight made their merriest cheer, the
table was drawn up to the warmest spot; Star took her place upon
Captain January's knee, and the two heads, the silver one and the
golden, bent in absorbed interest over "Willum Shakespeare" or the
Good Book.
Generally the Captain read aloud, but sometimes they read the parts
in turn; and again sometimes the child would break off, and recite
whole passages alone, with a fire and pathos which might have been
that of Maid Marjorie, swaying at her childish will the heart of Sir
Walter and his friends.
So quietly, in the unbroken peace which love brightened into joy,
the winter passed.
At Christmas, they had, as usual, a visit from the faithful Bob, who
brought all his many pockets full of candy and oranges and all manner
of "truck," as he called it, for Missy Star. Also he brought a letter
and a box directed only to "Captain January's Star." The letter, which
the child opened with wondering eagerness, being the first she had
ever received, was from Mrs. Morton. It was full of tender and loving
words, wishes for Christmas cheer and New Year blessing, and with
it was a photograph of the beautiful face, with its soft and tender
eyes, which Star remembered so well.
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