“Oh no, if I was you I’d have a little wreath of flowers round it; it would make ever so pretty a hat, and would last her for Sundays right on till the late autumn.  I’ll show you some;” and dragging out a big drawer, she displayed a perfect garden of dainty blossoms, daisies, roses, forget-me-nots, moss, ferns, and flowers of every kind that ever grew, and many kinds that never did or could grow.

Jessie’s eyes, though, were caught by a wreath of feathery moss with little blue forget-me-nots peeping out of it here and there, and when she was asked which she liked best, she decidedly picked out that one.  To her great delight her granny’s taste agreed with her, and the wreath and the hat and a piece of white ribbon were put aside together.

“Now,” laughed Mrs. Dawson, “I’ve got to get her another for every day.  That’s a pretty fine thing!  I reckon you think there’s no bottom to my purse!”

“Now, Mrs. Dawson, you won’t regret spending that money, I am sure,” said the attendant coaxingly; “and this one shan’t cost more than eighteenpence, trimming and all,” and she produced a big shady-brimmed, flexible straw, for which was shown as trimming a pretty soft flowered ribbon, to be loosely twisted around the crown.  Then came a length of blue serge for a warm dress, and two pieces of print, one with blue flowers all over it, and the other with pink ones.  Jessie thought them both perfectly lovely, and while they were being chosen she slid off her chair and went and leaned against her grandmother.  She did not feel at all afraid of her now; she felt that she wanted to kiss her for all her kindness, and to tell her how grateful she was.  She did not do that, she was still too shy, but Mrs. Dawson seemed to understand, for she put her arm very fondly about her, and drew her very close.

“Now, if only you could sew,” she said, “you’d be able to help me finely with all this, but I s’pose I shall get it done somehow.  I must let other things go for the time.”

Jessie longed eagerly to be able to help, but she couldn’t sew at all, she had never even tried.  She thought, though, that she might be able to do some of the other things granny mentioned, and she made up her mind to do her best.  She wouldn’t say anything to any one, but she would try, and she grew quite excited at the thought.

“I wish mother knew,” she sighed presently, when the assistant had gone off to get the boots for her to try on.  “Mother tried to get me a new hat, but she hadn’t got any money.  She would be so glad to know what lots of nice new things I am having.”  Then, as she saw the girl approaching from a distant part of the shop, she put up her arm to draw her grandmother’s head down to her own level.  “Mother cried when she sent me away,” she whispered solemnly, “because she couldn’t get me any new clothes.”

When the assistant reached them again, with her arms full of boots, she found Mrs. Dawson rubbing her eyes and nose violently with her large white cotton handkerchief.