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The little girl, Nanny, was kind enough to Diamond, but often she would not play with him. She would tap her forehead, roll her eyes, and say, "He's god's baby. Not quite right, you know."

Diamond would hear her and just smile, and a faraway look would come into his eyes. As for me, i began to wonder if he really were God's baby, a little angel fallen to earth.

Then one day Diamond wasn't up in his nest. Mrs.Raymond, looking somber, said Diamond had taken ill. He was lying in bed upstairs in his little room. I went up to see him.

He was very pale and drawn. But his bright blue eyes were as shiny as ever. He sounded very excited as he told me that North Wind herself had come to him last night. She had taken him outside and they had flown over meadows and forests, he said. And they had raced along a winding stream and listened to the budding song it made.

Then Diamond told me of the things he and North Wind had spoken.

"People call me by dreadful names,'" North Wind had said. "'And they think they know all about me. But they don't. Sometimes they call me Bad Fortune, sometimes Evil Chance, sometimes Ruin, and they have another name for me that they think the most dreadful of all.'"

"'What is that?'" Diamond asked.

"'I won't tell you that name. Do you remember having to go through me to get into the country at my back?'"

"'Yes! How cold you were, North Wind! And so white, all but your eyes. My heart grew like a lump of ice, and then I forgot for a while.'"

"'You were very near knowing what they call me just then,'" North Wind had said. "'Would you be afraid if you had to go through me again?'"

"'No, why should I?'"Diamond had said.

"'I would be glad enough just to get another peep at the country at your back.'"

"'You've never seen that country, Diamond.'"

"'Haven't I, North Wind? Oh, I thought I had. What did I see, then?'"

"'Only a picture of it. The real country at my real back is ever so much more beautiful than that. you shall see it one day - perhaps before very long.'"

Diamond fell asleep as he spoke, a peaceful smile on his face. His window was open and a cool breeze came in, playing ever so gently with the golden curl lying on his forehead.

It was a couple of days before I came back. Diamond's mother met me at the Raymonds's door. She was silent, and I could see that she had been weeping. She led me upstairs to Diamond's room.

He lay in his little bed, as white as the sheet drawn up to his chin. But his face was beautiful, so peaceful. There indeed lay God's baby, a little angel made of ivory.

I stood there for a long time, gazing at that sweet face. After what seemed like hours, I went downstairs and out into the lane. I stopped by the beech tree. The branches were swaying very gently in the evening breeze. As I looked up at the branches, at the sky, a tear rolled down my cheek. But I smiled to myself and started down the lane.

They said their little Diamond had died. But I knew better. I knew he had only gone to the back of the North Wind.