The Holly-Tree

at sea, a distant low-lying line, that promised by-and-by to change to light, was visible in the dim ho

e latter veiled in darkness. Fitful and uncertain as the shadows which the night-clouds cast, were their concealments from him, and imperfect revelations to him;

the moon's path was more or less beset. Within, the Chemist's room was indistinct and murky, by the light of the expiring lamp; a ghostly silence had succeeded to the knocking and the voice outside; nothing was audible but, now and then, a low sou

the night air, in a low, sweet, melancholy strain-he rose, and stood stretching his hands about him, as if there were some friend approaching within his reach, on whom his desolate touch might rest, yet

hope that it was. But some dumb stir within him made him capable, again, of being moved by what was hidden, afar off, in the mus

lingering vibration. Beyond the boy, so that his sleeping figure lay at i

in its aspect-or he thought or hoped so, as he looked upon it tremb

s bent a little, as her manner was, and her eyes were looking down, as if in pity, on the sleeping child. A radiant l

ked, "I have not been stubborn or presumptuous in res

; "when the morning shines seek out the

le doom to do so?"

replied t

ss; to make her what I am myself,

t," returned the Phantom

the hope which he fancied might lie hidden

urned the

nd have justly lost. But for those to whom I have transferred the fatal gift; who never sought it; who unkno

" said th

not, can

aze upon him for a while; then turned its head

d Redlaw, still loo

y raised its own with a gesture of dismissal. Upon that, her shad

act of mercy! I know that some change fell upon me, when those sounds were in the air just now. Tell me, h

the shade as he did-not

forth, the consciousness of any po

," the Phant

estowed on her witho

answered: "S

adow slowl

and awfully as at the time of the bestowal of the gift, across the

isited (in which, and in whose milder aspect, I would fain believe I have a gleam of hope), I will obey without inquiry, praying that the cry I have s

here," the phantom interposed, and

this child alone been proof against my influence, and why, why, ha

hed mortal from his birth has been abandoned to a worse condition than the beasts, and has, within his knowledge, no one contrast, no humanising touch, to make a grain of such a memory spring up in his hardened breast. All within this desolate cr

appalled, fro

grown that shall be gathered in, and garnered up, and sown again in many places in the world, until regions are overspread with wickedness enough to raise

y in his sleep. Redlaw, too, looke

mothers in this land; there is no one risen from the state of childhood, but shall be responsible in his or her degree for this enormity. There is not a country throu

ling fear and pity, from the sleeping boy to the Phan

ish nothing. His thoughts have been in 'terrible companionship' with yours, because you have gone down to his unnatural level. He is the growth of man's indifference;

kind of compassion for him that he now felt for himself, covered him as

ind was used to spin with such unwindy constancy, shook off the finer particles of snow that had accumulated on his dull old face in the night, and looked out at the little white wreaths eddying round and round him. Doubtless some blind groping of the morning made its way down into the forgotten crypt so co

Tetterbys, whose ten round eyes were much inflamed by soap and friction, were in the tortures of a cool wash in the back kitchen; Mrs. Tetterby presiding. Johnny, who was pushed and hustled through his toilet with great rapidity when Moloch chanced to be in an exacting frame of mind (which was always the c

t always carried, dangling at its waist (which was immediately under its chin), a bone ring, large enough to have represented the rosary of a young nun. Knife-handles, umbrella-tops, the heads of walking-sticks selected from the stock, the fingers of the family in general, but especially of Johnny, nutmeg-graters, crusts, the handles of doors, and the cool knobs on the to

n) contentedly and even generously, and taking a great deal of enjoyment out of a very little meat. But they were fighting now, not only for the soap and water, but even for the breakfast which was yet in perspective. The hand of every little Tetterby was against the other litt

the collar, in that same flash of time, an

tle boy," said Mrs. Tetterby.

ed Johnny, in a loud rebellious voice, "instead

. Tetterby, relieving hi

t at all. If you was me, you'd go for a soldier

bbed his chin thoughtfully, instead of correcting the rebe

tinct association with their weak descent on the tobacco trade perhaps suggested this aggravated expression to Mrs. Tetterby. "I never have a holiday, or any pleasure at all, from year's

clearer by shaking it, Mrs. Tetterby put the baby away in a cra

said Mrs. Tetterby to her husba

about doing anything,"

don't," said

ath I don't," s

ss; the smallest boy of all, with precocious discretion, hovering outside the knot of combatants, and harassing their legs. Into the midst of this fray, Mr. and Mrs. Tetterby both precipitated themselves with great ardour, as if su

paper than do nothing at

aper?" returned Mr. Tetterby

Mrs. Tetter

etterby. "What do I care wha

suggested Mr

f mine," repli

ages, are those nothing to

e off to-morrow; I don't see why it should interest me, till I thought it was a coming to my t

etterby appeared to entertain the same opinions as her husband; but she

he screen of your own making there, made of nothing else but bits of news

ned her husband. "You won't find me

!" said Mrs. Tetter

Tetterby's breast. He ruminated dejectedly, and

don't know as any of us are better

t it with his finger, until he found a c

next to the story of the robin redbreasts in the wood. 'Melancholy case of destitution. Yesterday a small man, with a baby in his arms, and surrounded by half-a-dozen ragged little ones, of various ages between ten and two, th

watching him. "I never saw such a change in a man.

fice?" her husban

ng in words, raised a complete sea-storm about t

e was a sacrifice, my goo

it," said

ily as she, "that there are two sides to that affair; and that I was

rt and soul I do assure you," said his wife.

saw anything, it's not there now. I was thinking so, last night, after supper, by t

m, he's small, he's beginning to stoop and

t of my mind when I did i

e only way in which I can explain it to my

lings off into the street and back again, and the hoppings up and down the door-steps, which were incidental to the performance. In the present instance, the contentions between these Tetterby children for the milk-and-water jug, common to all, which stood upon the table, presented so lamentable an instance of angry passions risen very high indeed,

st!" said Mrs. Tetterby, after banishing the

, "ought not to have children at

udely pushed towards him, and Mrs. Tetterby was lifting her own c

y, running into the room. "Here's M

are of an old nurse, and hushed and soothed it tenderly, and tottered away with it c

by rubbed his forehead; Mrs. Tetterby rubbed hers. Mr. Tetterby's face be

o himself, "what evil tempers have I been g

er all I said and felt last night!" sobbed

y, "or is there any good in me a

ear," retur

," said Mr. Tetterby, "that I c

e been in, Dolf," cried his w

ke on. I never shall forgive myself. I mu

was me! Me!" cri

ul, when you show such a noble spirit. Sophia, my dear, you don't know what I t

don't! Don't!"

eal it. I couldn't rest in my conscience

nearly here!" screame

uld wish. I-I never gave a recollection," said Mr. Tetterby, with severe self-accusation, "to the cares you've had as my wife, and along of me and mine, when you might have had hardly any with another man, who got on better and w

ughing and crying, caught his face

u close them with your own good hands. I thought that you were small; and so you are, and I'll make much of you because you are, and more of you because I love my husband. I thought that you began to stoop; and so you do, and you shal

s Mrs. William

nd kissed one another, and kissed the baby, and kissed their father and mother, a

he children were; they ran towards her, kissed her hands, pressed round her, could not receive her ardently or enthusiasti

Christmas morning?" said Milly, clapping her hands in

trooping round her, more happiness, more love, more

s you make me shed. How can I ever have des

p it!" cried

it!" cried M

d trooped about her again, and clung to her, and laid their rosy faces against

n his darling daughter than myself, implored me to go with him to where William's brother George is lying ill. We went together, and all the way along he was so kind, and so subdued, and seemed to put such trust and

s. Tetterby said she was right. All th

black cloud had cleared away, and that he entreated me to ask his poor old father for his pardon and his blessing, and to say a prayer beside his bed. And when I did so, Mr. Redlaw joined in it so fervently, and then so thanked and thanked me, and thanked Heaven, that my heart quite overflowed, and I could have done nothing but sob and cry, if the sick man had not begged me to sit down by him,-which made me quiet of cour

roup of which she was the centre, had silently ascended the stairs. Upon those stairs he now

said, falling on his knee to her, and catchi

here's another of them! Oh dear, here's someb

n which she put her hands before her eyes and wept fo

k, I am restored. I heard the children crying out your name, and the shade passed from me at the very sound of it. Oh, don't weep! Dear Milly, if you co

joy. It's wonder that you should think it necessary to ask

in? and will you finis

s, and shaking her head. "You wo

iving me, t

aside, and whis

from your hom

s? H

ng when you began to be better, created some suspicion of the truth; however tha

ur

some one com

ing round involuntarily towards Redla

No," sa

be no on

id Milly, "a

could say more, she put

without satisfying her doubts, and came up, last night, with a little servant-maid. As you always dated your letters from the col

ng! Where i

her lips to his ear, "in my little parl

and was darting off,

orning that his memory is impaired. Be very conside

ot ill-bestowed; and as he passed the Chemist on his way out

oked after him as he passed on. He dropped his head upon his hand

wn condition, and contrast it, clearly, with the natural state of those who were around him. In this, an interest in those who were around him was revived, and a meek, submissive sense of

more with her, this change ripened itself within him. Therefore, and because of the attachment she inspired him with

ous in that regard-he put his arm through hers, and walked beside her; not as if he were the wise and learned man to whom the wonders of N

clustering around him like flowers; he witnessed the renewed contentment and affection of their parents; he breathed the simple air of their poor home, restored to its tranquillity; he thought of the

ed on the ground, and his son was leaning against the opposite side of the fire-place, looking at him. As she

like the rest!" cried Milly, clapping her hands in

ive her, and he would have been glad to have her there, with her head lying on his shoulder, through the s

as been a long while away. I find that it's impossible for me to get on with

son. "I have been in an ugly sort of dream, I t

e, my boy," retu

, and patting him on the back, and rubbing him gently down with his h

u really pretty hearty, though?" said William, shaking hands with

her or stouter in

e chances and changes, and sorrows and troubles, that have happened to him in the course of his long life, and under which his head has grown grey, and years upon years

hands with him again, and patting him again, and rubbing him down again,

morning, of the time when you was a student yourself, and worked so hard that you were backwards and forwards in our Library even at Christmas time. Ha! ha! I'm old enoug

ist answ

me here one Christmas morning with a young lady-I ask your pardon, M

ook his head. "I had a sister," h

lect, as I was stirring up the blaze for the young lady to warm her pretty feet by, she read the scroll out loud, that is underneath that pictur, 'Lord, keep my memory green!' She and my poor wife fell a talking about it; and it's a strange thing to think of, now, that they both said (both being so unlike

oursed down Redlaw's face. Philip, fully occupied in recalling his story, ha

, on whom the hand of Providence has fallen heavily, although deservedly.

wer!" cried

and trouble," said the Chemist, "and with

im to rest in, and look down upon him with a solemn sense of his bereavement

unning in, and

said, "in the other r

he mean?" ask

" said

ther softly withdrew. As they went out, unnoti

st," he answered, ho

"But you needn't fear to come to me. I am gentler

his feet. As Redlaw laid his hand upon the shoulder of the child, looking on him with compassion and a fellow-feeling, he put o

, may I spe

s eyes upon her. "Your voice

sk you s

you

our door last night? About one who was your frien

," he said, with

unders

-looking at her fixedly th

made clearer and softer, "I found soon afterwards. I went back to the house, and, with Hea

and of hers, whose timid and yet earnest touch addressed him no le

ng gentleman we saw just now. His real n

llect t

the

man. Did he e

es

t's hopeles

t upon the hand he held, as thoug

" said Milly,-"You will listen to me ju

syllable

gone either; but that is for another reason. He has long been separated from his wife and son-has been a stranger to his home almost from this son's infancy, I learn from him-and has abandoned and deserted what he should have

me?" asked

her, "and that is an unwonted word

d would have looked longer, in an ineffectual struggle for enlightenment, but that Milly

emist's face. "If you could remember all that is connected with him, do you not think it would move your pity to reflect

" he answered. "I

speedily to her, on whom he gazed intently, as if he strove to learn

to think, and you are always thinking. May I tell you why it seems

es

may for

w, lifting up his eyes, "for having t

red, as we will hope and pray it may be, would it not be a bl

ttentive eyes on her again; a ray of clearer light appe

. A very little money carefully bestowed, would remove him to some distant place, where he might live and do no wrong, and make such atonement as is left within his power for the wrong he has done. To the unfortunate lady wh

be done. I trust to you to do it for me, now and secretly; and to tel

implying that her mediation had been successful, he advanced a

ish your rising sense of retribution in the spectacle that is before you

nearer to him; and, as he listened looked in her

ay any such before you. But from the day on which I made my first step downward, in dealin

s face towards the speaker, and there was sorrow

on't know that it would have been. I claim nothing for the possibility. Your sister is at rest, and better than s

h his hand, as if he would hav

rom the grave. I should have made my own grave, l

!" sobbed Milly, under he

irred, and is presented to me, I don't know how, so vividly, that I have dared to come at her suggestion, and to take your bounty, an

door, and stopped a mo

rve to do so. Unless my life should be preserved a long time, and I should

fast gaze was fixed upon him, dreamily held out his hand. He returned and touch

ith his hands. Seeing him thus, when she came back, accompanied by her husband and his father (who were both greatly concerned for him

er!" exclaimed her admiring husband. "There's a motherly fe

man; "you're right. M

ren of our own; and yet I sometimes wish you had one to love and cherish. Our little dead child that yo

ion of it, William dear," she ans

ou thought of i

s to me in so many ways. The innocent thing that ne

ather and me," said Mr. Wil

es turned up to mine that never opened to the light," said Milly, "I can feel a greater tenderness, I think, for all the disappointed hopes in which there is no harm. When I

is head, and lo

to speak to me. When I hear of youth in suffering or shame, I think that my child might have come to that, perhaps, and that God took it from me in His mercy. Even in age and grey ha

ever, as she took her husband's a

ecious to me. If I have been quiet since, I have been more happy, William, in a hundred ways. Not least happy, dear, in this-that even when my little child was born and dead but a few days, an

on his knees,

estored me to the memory which was the memory of Christ upon the Cross, and

er, cried, as she laughed, "He is come back to himself! He likes

n him and his youthful choice, the softened shadow of that chastening passage in his own life, to which, as to a shady tree, the

e active with us, not less than our own experiences, for all good, he laid his hand upon the boy, and, silently calling Him to witness who laid His hand on

he ten poor gentlemen commuted, their great Dinner Hall; and that they would bid to it as many of that Swidger family, who, his son had

ere, by dozens and scores-and there was good news and good hope there, ready for them, of George, who had been visited again by his father and brother, and by Milly, and again left in a quiet sleep. There, present at the dinner, too, were the Tetterbys, including

rent way, to see what an instinctive knowledge the youngest children there had of his being different from all the rest, and how they made timid approaches to him with soft words and touches, and with little presents, that he might not be unhap

h the student and his bride that w

ead it in the fire, one winter night about the twilight time; others, that the Ghost was but the r

al and familiar there, to what was wild and magical. But that there was one thing in the Hall, to which the eyes of Redlaw, and of Milly and her husband, and of the old man, and of the student, and his bride that was to be, were often turned, which the shadows did not obscure or change. Deepened in its g

p my Mem