“You will play something very beautiful to-morrow, will you not, father? You will make the voluntary better than all the service besides? Oh, for such a celebration, it ought to be the most magnificent music in the world, for, think, father, it will be Christmas, the grandest day in all the year! It seems to me I can hardly wait to hear you, I have been looking forward to it so long. But, father, you have not practised any for it, have you?” said the child, looking up suddenly with quick dismay upon her features. Franz, still without glancing at the little girl, or taking his eyes from the fire, said,— “No,” but he clasped his hands nervously together. “Oh, father, you did not forget about it, did you?” she asked eagerly. “I have so often and often thought of it, though I did not say any thing, but it is strange I never once thought about the practising. Oh, you could not have forgotten it, father?” She was so intensely earnest, it seemed as if her whole soul was in the question, trembling while it awaited the reply. “No, I have not forgotten it,” said Franz, “It has hardly been out of my mind one moment for many weeks; but I have nothing to play.” At first, her face had been perfectly radiant; but, when he added the last clause, she got up, put her arms about his neck, and said, with a kind of terror in her voice,— “Oh, no, no! You will play, father—tell me you will play!” Franz moved uneasily in his seat. “And it will be something grand, father. Oh, you will please everybody—I am not afraid of that. Quick, tell me you will play. Father, if you did not—I can not bear to think of it—oh, you will—say you will!” Her entreaty had fairly grown into wild desperation. Every fiber of her frame quivered as she clung to him. Alarmed at her singular agitation, he took her up on his knee, and said, hurriedly,— “Yes, yes; I will play. Do not be troubled about it; I will play.” “Oh, I am so glad! I knew you would, and it will be grand, I am sure, for to-morrow is Christmas!” Her face was radiant with pleasure; but so extreme had been her excitement that nearly an hour later, when Margery came to take her upstairs, she still trembled.