Standing on the brink, she saw the
reflection of the little white clouds floating overhead, and was
suddenly possessed with an idea that this was heaven, or the
entrance to it. So, as she told me, she thought she would float out
on the log till she got to the middle, and then 'slip off, and fall
right into heaven.'"
"How absurd!" said Kitty, laughing.
"Not at all. She would certainly have reached heaven if she had
carried out the plan," said Karl.
"Don't, please," murmured Dora, with a little shiver. "Don't talk of
it."
"That is like a little sister of mine; a little adopted sister, at
least. She was always talking of going to heaven, and planning to
get there," said the guest.
Dora looked at him with pity in her honest eyes, and hastened to
prevent Kitty's evident intention of questioning him further with
regard to this "little sister."
"It seems to be a natural instinct with children," said she "to long
for heaven. Perhaps that is the reason they bring so much of heaven
to earth."
"I'm afraid mothers of large and troublesome families would say that
earth would be better with less of heaven," suggested Karl slyly;
and the conversation suddenly veered to other topics. But all
through the evening, and even after he had gone to rest, the mind of
Teddy Ginniss was haunted by the memory of the pretty child, so
loved and mourned, and of whom this anecdote of the little
heaven-seeker so forcibly reminded him.
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