Huldah liked the work, and she had done so little lately that the thought of going back to it was a pleasure in itself, but best of all was the thought of what she would do with the money when she got it.  That thought kept her in one thrill of joy.

She was to have eighteenpence each for the baskets.  Nine whole shillings!  It seemed to Huldah a perfect fortune, and she would spend the whole of it on Mrs. Perry.  She would get her in a store of coal, in readiness for the winter; then they would be able to have good fires, and not have to be counting the cost all the time.

That was the first decision.  After a time, though, that seemed rather an uninteresting purchase.  All her money would be gone at once, and almost before she had realised that she had got it.  She next decided to get a large piece of bacon, two sacks of coal, and a sack of corn for the fowls; but this plan was changed again for others.  Every day Huldah thought out some new and delightful purchases, and what she would have bought finally nobody knows, for Miss Rose and Mrs. Perry put an end to all her schemes, by insisting that the money was to be spent on herself.  She was to buy a new winter coat for herself, they decided, and Huldah had to give in.  She was bitterly disappointed at first; it had never entered her head to spend her money on anyone but Mrs. Perry, it was for her only that she had wanted it.

Autumn was well advanced now, the mornings and nights were cold, and the days not really hot, and Huldah soon began to realise that she did need a warm garment of some sort, for she had only her thin print frocks, and a little shoulder shawl that Mrs. Perry had given her.

So, as soon as she had got her nine shillings in her pocket, Miss Rose came with the pony-cart and drove her in to Belmouth to hunt through the shops in search of a coat or a cloak which would not cost more than nine shillings, and at the same time be neat and warm, and—­at least, so Huldah hoped,—­pretty.

Such a day as that was to Huldah!  Such a day as had never come into her life before.  First of all there was the drive, four whole miles with Miss Rose in her dear little pony-carriage, and actually wearing one of Miss Rose’s old golf cloaks wrapped snugly round her.  The sun shone and the birds sang, and the air was exhilarating with the first touch of frost; the trees glowed warmly in their autumn dress, and the hedges too.

Huldah was speechless with excitement, when, after leaving Rob, the pony, at a livery-stable, she followed Miss Carew into the big draper’s shop where the purchase was to be made.  She was half frightened too, the place was so large, and there were so many people there, who seemed to have nothing to do but stare about them.  It was quite an ordeal to walk behind the shop-walker between the long lines of counters with so many people looking over them at her.  She kept very close indeed to Miss Rose, and tried to believe that it was at Miss Rose they were staring, and not at herself.