him!"

"I wish I could, but don't keep him waiting, poor doggie!"

It was not until she put out her hand to take the parcel for Dick
that Huldah remembered the basket which she had brought with her to
sell, and which she had been holding all this time. Now, though,
when she did remember it, she could not bring herself to offer it for
sale. Indeed, she longed to give it to pretty, kind Miss Rose.

Miss Rose, though, settled the matter for her. "What a sweetly
pretty basket!" she exclaimed. She had noticed it in Huldah's hands,
and been attracted by its prettiness. "It is too dainty to put that
clumsy parcel into. Isn't it a new one?"

"Yes, miss; I--I made it," stammered Huldah, shyly.

"Did you really? What a clever little girl! Do you make them to
sell?" She had begun to understand the situation.

"Yes, miss; but I--I--"

"Will you make one for me? I should very much like to have one; I am
always needing baskets. What do they cost?"

"This size is--eighteenpence," said Huldah, hesitatingly.
It suddenly seemed to her that it was a great deal of money to ask
for it. "You can have this one if you like, miss. It is new; I--I
brought it out to--to sell, if I could. I do want to get some money
to give to Mrs. Perry--she's been so good to Dick and me, and--and I