sly, she did not mean exactly what her
words conveyed, she was embarrassed by Faith's overwhelming gratitude,
and her exaggerated idea of her--Audrey's--generosity. Something made her
feel mean and petty. "You can wear your own blouses with it, so there
will be no trouble about the fit."

"I shall be able to have a new blouse soon," said Faith blithely.
"I am saving up to get some muslin. Miss Babbs has got some new in.
Oh, it is so pretty, and only sixpence a yard. It will only take three
yards, and when I have got it, Miss Babbs says she will cut it out for me,
and help me make it. Isn't it kind of her! I have a shilling towards
it."

"Oh!" Audrey made a dart at the bed where her bag, and a host of other
things, lay in the utmost confusion. "I had quite forgotten," she said,
diving in the bag for her purse, "granny sent half-a-crown to you, and a
shilling each to Debby and Tom."

Faith's eyes grew rounder than ever. "I never knew such a lovely day as
this. Why, it is like a very nice birthday!" she cried, overwhelmed with
happiness. "Oh, Audrey, I can get my muslin now, and--and perhaps I can
make my blouse by Sunday! Will you come to Miss Babbs' with me to-morrow
to choose it?"

Miss Babbs' shop was of the useful kind so often met with in villages.
The kind of shop where you seem able to buy everything that is needed,
and many that are pretty, such as the blouse muslin on which Faith had set
her heart. She was so afraid that it would be gone before she could get
some of it, that she rushed off as soon as breakfast was over, carrying
the greater part of her family with her.

"I would have liked that white one with the blue spots," she said, eyeing
that particular roll wistfully, "but it would always be needing washing."

"Why don't you have this," suggested Audrey, pointing to a dark blue with
a spot on it of the same colour, "with little white cuffs and a collar; it
would look awfully well with your blue coat and skirt."

"Oh, so it would," cried Faith eagerly, "please give me three yards of
that, Miss Babbs. What good taste you have, Audrey! Other people always
choose prettier things for me than I should choose for myself."

Deborah pulled at her sleeve anxiously. "Fay--Fay, I want to get
something for mother," she whispered in a tone that could be heard all
over the shop, "and I want to get something for daddy, and Joan, and
Mary."

"Oh!" said Faith, and forgot all about her own purchases.