"Yes, I might do that. It wouldn't take so long, and then it would be ready when she came if I started it at once."
Christina looked more cheerful, then she said:
"I s'pose I was made rich to help the poor?"
"Most certainly you were."
"And I've never done it!"
The little girl's eyes were big with wondering thought.
"I got a whole sovereign from father last week. He asked if I had any pocket money, and when I said 'No,' he said he would give that to me to start with. Miss Loder said it was too much. I was going to buy some real china tea things for our den in the turret tower, but I dare say God expected me to help others with it, and that's why he let father give it to me. Could we spend it all on Susy, Miss Bertha? And do you think that one day you would take me into the town and let me spend it in the shops for her?"
"We might spend some of it," said Miss Bertha brightly. "There are several old people in the village, Childie, who are very poor indeed. I have sometimes wondered if you were getting big enough to think about them. They have worked for your family all their lives, and if you sometimes took them a little present—some flowers or fruit or a little tea and sugar—they would be so pleased, and it would be such a pleasure to you."
"Nurse would never let me go into the cottages."
"But Nurse has gone now, and I think your mother will have no objection."