"Now, Peg, don't you be a silly," was her advice to herself. "You does as your missus tells you. 'Tis the country that wears the boots so."
She turned the half-sovereign over in her hand.
"Five shillin's for boots, and five to make the other P. I'll ask missus to give it to me in silver to-morrow. But, oh my! How grand I am to be havin' gold of my own!"
The next day she got her coin changed, but a pang went through her as she did so. It seemed as if she had only received it, to lose it at once. However, when she found an old stocking, and put five shillings carefully into it, her happy smile shone out again. Laboriously she wrote out on a piece of paper which she dropped inside with the money, "Margaret Perkins—Her heathen stocking." And then tying the stocking into a tight knot, she deposited it at the bottom of her box under her bed.
"There, Peggy," she said, with a long-drawn sigh of relief, "now you've made a beginnin', mind you keep right on, and keep it secret from everybody. And then one day you'll walk up to the clergyman and you'll roll a stockin' of gold out at his foot for them there savage heathens. Oh my! 'Twill be grand!"
One afternoon Joyce came into the kitchen where Peggy was cleaning her hearth.
"Peggy, we want you to take a message for us. A walk will do you good. It is a lovely day. It is to Mallow Farm; you have to go through fields the whole way, but you can't make a mistake, as there is a beaten footpath. Take your time about it, and give this note to Mrs. Webster there. Bring us back an answer. We want her husband to supply us with some wood for our fires."
Peggy departed with alacrity; Albert Edward accompanied her as a matter of course. She was directed where to go, and lifted up her little heart in gladness when she got out into the sweet spring air and sunshine.
"Oh!" she said, sniffing vigorously, "I feel as if I could h'eat the air to-day. I'm quite hungry for it!"
The first field was crossed in peace. The second was full of young bullocks. Peggy's heart came up in her mouth. She had not yet conquered her fear of all cattle. She peeped cautiously over the stile, and waited till some of the nearest ones moved away. Then, gathering courage, she addressed Albert Edward.