How I envied Peter his easy , insouciant manner ! I could not emulate him , so Dan and Felix and Cecily and the Story Girl and I all walked hand in hand , huddling a little closer together as we went through James Frewen 's woods -- for there are strange harps in a fir grove , and who shall say what fingers sweep them ? Mighty and sonorous was the music above our heads as the winds of the night stirred the great boughs tossing athwart the starlit sky . Perhaps it was that aeolian harmony which recalled to the Story Girl a legend of elder days . `` I read such a pretty story in one of Aunt Olivia 's books last night , '' she said . `` It was called ` The Christmas Harp . ' Would you like to hear it ? It seems to me it would just suit this part of the road . '' `` There is n't anything about -- about ghosts in it , is there ? '' said Cecily timidly . `` Oh , no , I would n't tell a ghost story here for anything . I 'd frighten myself too much . This story is about one of the shepherds who saw the angels on the first Christmas night . He was just a youth , and he loved music with all his heart , and he longed to be able to express the melody that was in his soul . But he could not ; he had a harp and he often tried to play on it ; but his clumsy fingers only made such discord that his companions laughed at him and mocked him , and called him a madman because he would not give it up , but would rather sit apart by himself , with his arms about his harp , looking up into the sky , while they gathered around their fire and told tales to wile away their long night vigils as they watched their sheep on the hills . But to him the thoughts that came out of the great silence were far sweeter than their mirth ; and he never gave up the hope , which sometimes left his lips as a prayer , that some day he might be able to express those thoughts in music to the tired , weary , forgetful world . On the first Christmas night he was out with his fellow shepherds on the hills . It was chill and dark , and all , except him , were glad to gather around the fire . He sat , as usual , by himself , with his harp on his knee and a great longing in his heart . And there came a marvellous light in the sky and over the hills , as if the darkness of the night had suddenly blossomed into a wonderful meadow of flowery flame ; and all the shepherds saw the angels and heard them sing .
And as they sang , the harp that the young shepherd held began to play softly by itself , and XXXXX he listened to it he realized that it was playing the same music that the angels sang and that all his secret longings and aspirations and strivings were expressed in it .
On about above as athwart except in over through with