"
"Dear heart," murmured Madame Desire, drawing the child closer to her,
"it means that a far sweeter story is just beginning, and it is you who
have opened the book for me."
Joyce flushed with pleasure, saying, "I thought this Christmas would be
so lonely; but it has been the happiest of my life."
[Illustration: "HE TOOK THE LITTLE FELLOW'S HAND IN HIS."]
"And mine, too," said Monsieur Ciseaux from the other side of Jules's
couch. He took the little fellow's hand in his. "They told me about the
tree that you prepared for me. I have been up to look at it, and now I
have come to thank you." To the surprise of every one in the room,
monsieur bent over and kissed the flushed little face on the pillow.
Jules reached up, and, putting his arms around his uncle's neck, laid
his cheek a moment against the face of his stern old kinsman. Not a
word was said, but in that silent caress every barrier of coldness and
reserve was forever broken down between them. So the little Prince came
into his kingdom,--the kingdom of love and real home happiness.
* * * * *
It is summer now, and far away in the little brown house across the seas
Joyce thinks of her happy winter in France and the friends that she
found through the gate of the giant scissors. And still those scissors
hang over the gate, and may be seen to this day, by any one who takes
the trouble to walk up the hill from the little village that lies just
across the river Loire, from the old town of Tours.
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