she saw the snowy street, into which, from the tip of his stick, bob cooper had just tossed the flanton dog. she saw, what she had not seen before, the woman and child on the opposite side of the street. she saw the baby stretch out wistful hands after the dog lying in the snow. then an automobile honked past, and she felt again the thrill of horror as it ran over the poor old toy. at the same moment the child screamed, and she saw it point tearfully at the flanton tragedy. the mother, who had seen nothing of all this, stooped and spoke to him reprovingly.
"what's the matter, johnnie?" she said. "sh! don't make such a noise. here we are at mrs. wales's gate, and you mustn't make a fuss. now be a good boy and wait here till mother comes out."
she rang the area bell and stood basket in hand, waiting to be admitted. but johnnie gazed at one spot in the street, with eyes full of tears, and with now and then a sob gurgling from his throat. he could not forget what he had seen.
the door opened for the mother, who disappeared inside the house, with one last command to the child: "now be a good boy, johnnie. i'll be back in half a minute."
hardly was she out of sight when johnnie started through the snowdrift toward the middle of the street. with difficulty he lifted his little legs out of the deep snow; now and then he stumbled and fell into the soft mass. but he rose only the more determined upon his errand, and kept his eyes fixed on the wreck of the flanton dog.
bob cooper, who was idly strolling up and down the block, smoking a cigarette, as he watched the flitting girlish shadows in a certain window opposite, saw the child's frantic struggles in the snow and was intensely amused. "bah jove!" he chuckled. "i believe he's after the wretched dawg that i tossed over there with my stick. fahncy it!" and carelessly he puffed a whiff of smoke.
at last the baby reached the middle of the street and stooped to pick up the battered toy. it was flattened and shapeless, but the child clasped it tenderly and began to coo softly to it.
"bah jove!" repeated cooper. "fahncy caring so much about anything! poor kid! perhaps that is all the christmas he will have." he blew a thoughtful puff through his nose. "christmas eve!" the thought flashed through his mind with a new appeal.
just then came a sudden "honk, honk!" an automobile had turned the corner and was coming up at full speed. it was the same machine which had passed a few minutes earlier in the opposite direction.
"hi there!" cooper yelled to the child. but the latter was sitting in the snow in the middle of the street, rocking back and forth, with the flanton dog in his arms. there was scarcely time for action. bob dropped his cigarette and his cane, made one leap into the street and another to the child, and by the impact of his body threw the baby into the drift at the curb. with a horrified honk the automobile passed over the young man, who lay senseless in the snow.
he was not killed. miss terry saw him taken to his home close by, where his broken leg was set and his bruises attended to. she saw him lying bandaged and white on his bed when the woman and her child were brought to see him. johnnie was still clasping closely the unlucky flanton dog.
"well, kid," said the young man feebly, "so you saved the dog, after all."
"o sir!" cried the poor woman, weeping. "only to think that he would not be here now but for you. what a christmas that would have been for me! you were so good, so brave!"
"oh, rot!" protested bob faintly. "had to do it; my fault anyway; christmas eve,—couldn't see a kid hurt on christmas eve."
he called the attendant and asked for the pocket-book which had been in his coat at the time of the accident. putting it into the woman's hand, he said, "good-by. get johnnie something really jolly for christmas. i'm afraid the dog is about all in. get him a new one."
but johnnie refused to have a new dog. it was the poor, shapeless flanton animal which remained the darling of his heart for many a moon.
all this of past and future miss terry knew through the angel's power. when once more the library lightened, and she saw the pink figure smiling at her from the mantel, she spoke of her own accord.
"it was my fault, because i put the dog in the way. i caused all that trouble."
"trouble?" said the angel, puzzled. "do you call it trouble? do you not see what it has done for that heartless youth? it brought his good moment. perhaps he will be a different man after this. and as for the child; he was made happy by something that would otherwise have been wasted, and he has gained a friend who will not forget him. trouble! and do you think you did it?" he laughed knowingly.
"i certainly did," said miss terry firmly.
"but it was i, yes i, the christmas spirit, who put it into your head to do what you did. you may not believe it, but so it was. you too, even you, angelina, could not quite escape the influence of the christmas spirit, and so these things have happened. but now let us see what became of the third experiment."
