Alvord.
I'll sit with you all by ourselves, if you will only go to church to-day.
Why, it's Easter."
"Mr. Alvord," said Amy, gently, "that's an unusual offer for shy Johnnie
to make. You don't know what a compliment you have received, and I think
you will make the child very happy if you comply."
"Could I make you happier by sitting with you in church to-day?" he
asked, in a low voice, offering the child his hand.
"Yes," she replied, simply.
"Come, then. You lead the way, for you know best where to go." She gave
her vase to Amy, and led him into a side seat near her father's pew--one
that she had noted as unoccupied of late. "It's early yet Do you mind
sitting here until service begins?" he asked.
"Oh, no. I like to sit here and look at the flowers;" and the first
comers glanced wonderingly at the little girl and her companion, who was
a stranger to them and to the sanctuary. Amy explained matters to Leonard
and Maggie at the door when they arrived, and Easter-Sunday had new and
sweeter meanings to them.
The spring had surely found its way into Mr. Barkdale's sermon also, and
its leaves, as he turned them, were not autumn leaves, which, even though
brilliant, suggest death and sad changes. One of his thoughts was much
commented upon by the Cliffords, when, in good old country style, the
sermon was spoken of at dinner. "The God we worship," he said, "is the
God of life, of nature.
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