“I fancied it would be for Master Jack,” said her mother, wishing the excursion to be a cheerful one.

“I’ve another for him, but she must have the prettiest.  He is going to hang it for me, and ring and run away, and she won’t know who it’s from till she sees this.  She will remember it, for I’ve been turning and tending it ever so long, to make it bloom to-day.  Isn’t it a beauty?” and Jill held up her finest hyacinth, which seemed to ring its pale pink bells as if glad to carry its sweet message from a grateful little heart.

“Indeed it is; and you are right to give your best to her.  Come away now, you must not stand any longer.  Come and rest while I fetch a dish to put the flowers in till you want them;” and Mrs. Pecq turned her round with her small Maying safely done.

“I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do even so much, and here I am walking and sitting up, and going to drive some day.  Isn’t it nice that I’m not to be a poor Lucinda after all?” and Jill drew a long sigh of relief that six months instead of twenty years would probably be the end of her captivity.

“Yes, thank Heaven!  I don’t think I could have borne that;” and the mother took Jill in her arms as if she were a baby, holding her close for a minute, and laying her down with a tender kiss that made the arms cling about her neck as her little girl returned it heartily, for all sorts of new, sweet feelings seemed to be budding in both, born of great joy and thankfulness.

Then Mrs. Pecq hurried away to see about tea for the hungry boys, and Jill watched the pleasant twilight deepen as she lay singing to herself one of the songs her friend taught her because it fitted her so well.

  “A little bird I am,
  Shut from the fields of air,
  And in my cage I sit and sing
  To Him who placed me there: 
  Well pleased a prisoner to be,
  Because, my God, it pleases Thee!

  “Naught have I else to do;
  I sing the whole day long;
  And He whom most I love to please
  Doth listen to my song,
  He caught and bound my wandering wing,
  But still He bends to hear me sing.”

“Now we are ready for you, so bring on your flowers,” said Molly to the boys, as she and Merry added their store of baskets to the gay show Jill had set forth on the long table ready for the evening’s work.

“They wouldn’t let me see one, but I guess they have had good luck, they look so jolly,” answered Jill, looking at Gus, Frank, and Jack, who stood laughing, each with a large basket in his hands.

“Fair to middling.  Just look in and see;” with which cheerful remark Gus tipped up his basket and displayed a few bits of green at the bottom.

“I did better.  Now, don’t all scream at once over these beauties;” and Frank shook out some evergreen sprigs, half a dozen saxifrages, and two or three forlorn violets with hardly any stems.

“I don’t brag, but here’s the best of all the three,” chuckled Jack, producing a bunch of feathery carrot-tops, with a few half-shut dandelions trying to look brave and gay.