“Are any more girls coming, Mother?” Rebecca asked as Mrs. Weston led the way to the living-room.
“No, my dear. And I only——” Mrs. Weston hesitated. She had started to say that she had only remembered Rebecca’s birthday a few moments earlier; but she stopped in time, knowing it would cloud the afternoon’s pleasure; and Rebecca, smiling and delighted with Lucia’s gift, and sure that her mother had some treat ready for them, exclaimed:
“I do not mind now so much that the Polly has not arrived; for I could have no gift finer than a pair of silk mitts.”
Anna had taken off her sunbonnet and was sitting on one of the low rush-bottomed chairs near a window. She was very quiet, reproaching herself in her thoughts that she had no gift for her sister. What could she give her? For little girls in revolutionary times, especially those in remote villages, had very few possessions of their own, and Anna had no valued treasure that might make a present. If she had remembered in time, she thought, she would have asked her mother to help her make a needle-book.
Suddenly she jumped up and ran across the room and kissed her sister, first on one cheek and then on the other, saying:
“If I had golden beads in strings,
I’d give you these, and other things.
But Rebby, dear, I’ve only this
To give to-day: a birthday kiss.”
Lucia and Luretta were sure that Anna must have had her verse all ready to repeat; and even Rebecca, who knew that Anna rhymed words easily, thought that Anna had prepared this birthday greeting, and was very proud of her little sister. But at the words, “golden beads,” a great hope came into Rebecca’s heart. Perhaps that was what the Polly was bringing for her.
“I am to have a rabbit,” said Anna happily. “What shall I name it?”
Lucia did not seem much interested in anything so ordinary as a rabbit, and had no suggestion to offer, and while Anna and Luretta were deciding this question Lucia whispered to Rebecca: “When I go home be sure and walk a little way; I want to tell you something important.”
Rebby nodded smilingly. For the moment she had entirely forgotten the uncomfortable secret that Lucia had confided in her, and was thinking only that it was really a wonderful thing to have a fourteenth birthday.