Midnight
The sight of his face , the outline of his body under the white coverlet , the touch of his warm flesh : all this thrilled her inexpressibly . Had she been devout , she would have thanked God for the gift of a son -- and would have found relief ... . When she crept in beside him , she drew him to her , tenderly still closer , until he was all contained in her arms ; and she forgot all else -- and fell asleep , untroubled . -LSB- Illustration : Tailpiece to _ At Midnight _ -RSB- -LSB- Illustration : Headpiece to _ A Meeting by Chance _ -RSB- _ A MEETING BY CHANCE _ Came , then , into the lives of these two , to work wide and immediate changes , the Rev. John Fithian , a curate of the Church of the Lifted Cross -- a tall , free-moving , delicately spare figure , clad in spotless black , with a hint of fashion about it , a dull gold crucifix lying suspended upon the breast : pale , long of face , the eye-sockets deep and shadowy ; hollow-cheeked , the bones high and faintly touched with red ; with black , straight , damp hair , brushed back from a smooth brow and falling in the perfection of neatness to the collar -- the whole severe and forbidding , indeed , but for saving gray eyes , wherein there lurked , behind the patient agony , often displacing it , a tender smile , benignant , comprehending , infinitely sympathetic , by which the gloomy exterior was lightened and in some surprising way gratefully explained . By chance , on the first soft spring day of that year , the Rev. John Fithian , returning from the Neighbourhood Settlement , where he had delighted himself with good deeds , done of pure purpose , came near the door of the Box Street tenement , distributing smiles , pennies , impulsive , genuine caresses , to the children as he went , tipping their faces , patting their heads , all in the rare , unquestioned way , being not alien to the manner of the poor . A street piano , at the corner , tinkled an air to which a throng of ragged , lean little girls danced in the yellow sunshine , dodging trucks and idlers and impatient pedestrians with unconcern , colliding and tripping with utmost good nature . The curate was arrested by the voice of a child , singing to the corner accompaniment -- low , in the beginning , brooding , tentative , but in a moment rising sure and clear and tender .