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