CRISTOBAL.
27
Rome with peas in my shoes, if I could know what you wished to say to me that Christmas night."
"Only this, little brother: Are you ready for Christmas?"
"Alas! no: I never am. I have only two sous in the world."
"Poor Cristobal! Yet, without a centime, one may be ready for Christmas."
"But I am so very unhappy!"
"You do indeed look sad, little brother: where is your pain?"
"In my eyes," moaned the boy, pouring out the words with a delightful sense of relief; for he was sure they dropped into a pitying heart. "Beloved little Jesus, let me tell you that since I saw you last I have been wickedly injured. Now I have always a pain in my eyes: there are two flames behind them, which burn day and night."
