e careful.
How are you going to carry it?"

Poppy ran off, and in a moment was back again with a little covered basket
lined with hay. Evidently it had been prepared beforehand for this
purpose. The egg was laid in and carefully covered over, and the lid shut
down and secured.

"Are you going with it now?" asked Angela.

"In a minute. I have to get something else too."

The girls were always very considerate to each other over their little
mysteries and secrets, so Angela, without further inquiry, went away to
her hens, and Poppy hurried off to the end of the garden, where she
gathered a bunch of beautiful green parsley, and wrapped it round with a
piece of paper which she tied with a little piece of pink ribbon she had
saved on some previous occasion.

Miss Charlotte and Anna were in the kitchen arranging the meals for the
day. Esther was busy in the bedroom, Angela was in the hen-house, and
Penelope already at the church, practising, for although it was Easter,
and holiday time, she continued her organ-practice daily. So no one saw
Poppy as she and Guard started off together. She was bound on a secret
expedition to Mademoiselle Leperier, carrying with her all she could
compass as suitable offerings to an invalid--a new-laid egg and a bunch of
her own fresh parsley. She had not mentioned her plan to Miss Charlotte--
not because she was afraid of being stopped, but because she wanted to
give of her very own, and not make demands on Cousin Charlotte.
She knew if she did speak of it that Miss Ashe would be thinking of all
sorts of things to send, and Poppy did not want that. She wanted it to be
entirely her own little scheme, in gratitude to the poor lady for her
kindness to Esther.

She did not know in the least how long the walk would be, but she was
prepared for it to take her a very great while. Essie had said it was a
long way there but a short way back, and it had not occurred to either of
them to wonder how this could be possible. Thinking, though, of the
expedition before her as something very great, she hurried along without
once pausing to look at the river or play on the bridge or pay heed to any
of the hundreds of attractions which lie on a walk on a beautiful spring
day. Guard made little dashes and excursions in all directions, but was
never absent for more than a moment or two from his little mistress's
side.

Now and again Poppy sat down on a big boulder to rest, standing her basket
on