tried not to think about it. And all that winter she kept it and
never touched it, though they were very poor that winter. It was so very
cold, and poor people are always poorer in very cold winters, Martin
says. Often they had no fire, and Lizzie's chilblains were dreadful, for
her boots didn't keep out the rain and snow a bit, and often she was
very hungry too, but still she never touched the money. And at last,
after a very long time, the winter began to go away and the spring began
to come, and the woman who poured out the coffee told Lizzie she had
heard that the lady was coming home in the spring. So Lizzie began to
wait a little every Sunday morning when she had given in the bread, to
see if perhaps the lady would come. She waited like that for about six
Sundays, I think, till at last one Sunday just as she was thinking it
was no use waiting any more, the lady wouldn't be coming, a carriage
drove up to the door, the very same carriage that Lizzie had seen come
there before, and--and--the lady--the real same lady, and the real same
little boy, got out! And Lizzie was so pleased she didn't know what to
do, for though she had only seen them once before, she had watched for
them so long that they seemed like great friends to her. But though she
was so pleased, she began all to tremble and at first she couldn't
speak, her voice went all away. She just pulled the lady's dress and
looked up in her face but she couldn't speak. At first the lady didn't
understand, though she was a kind lady she didn't like a dirty-looking
little girl pulling her dress, and she looked at her a little sharply.
But the little boy understood, and he called out--

"'Oh, mamma, mamma, it's the same little girl. Don't you remember? I
wonder if she's been waiting here ever since.'

"_That_ was rather silly of him; of course she couldn't have been there
ever since, but he was quite a little boy. And then the lady looked
kindly at Lizzie and Lizzie's voice came back, and she said--

"'Oh, ma'am, this is the money you gave me by mistake. I've kept it all
this time,' and she put the little packet into the lady's hand. And then
something came over her; the feeling of having waited so long, I
suppose, and she burst into tears. And what _do_ you think the lady did?
She was so sorry for poor Lizzie, and so pleased with her, that she
actually kissed her!"

"Aczhally _kissed_ her," repeated Hoodie, Hec, and Duke. "That dirty
girl!"

"No," said Maudie