He entered so softly that she did not hear him.  There was no sound but the drowsy tick of the great clock in the hall and the low song of the fire.

“Sweetheart!”

She looked up quickly, the dream gone from her face, and in its place the light of love and perfect trust, and she stood still, her arms hanging at her sides—­waiting.

“Sweetheart!”

God was good that Christmas.

THE END

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes: 

1.  Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.

2.  Contemporary spelling has been retained, with these corrections: 
   p. 64 “gretty” to “pretty” ("watching pretty girls").
   p. 64 “pacing ing” to “pacing” ("pacing a steady beat").
   p. 117 “Critdenden” to “Crittenden” ("Private Crittenden").
   p. 162 “chapparal” to “chaparral” ("through the chaparral").