The little girls looked at each other. They did not think that they agreed with their Aunt.
They helped Granny by running errands to the village, and each one had her own duties about the house. Charity helped her Aunt to wash up after each meal; Hope dusted all the rooms; and Faith cleaned the brass door handles, and taps, and kept them bright. But they had a great deal of time for play, and whenever it was fine, Aunt Alice encouraged them to be out of doors.
One afternoon Faith was coming back from the village. She had been to the post office to get some stamps, and she was just turning the corner of the road when she saw on a wide piece of grass that edged it a gipsy van. An old horse and a donkey were grazing by the side of it. Now, if there was anything that the little girls really loved, it was a caravan of any sort. They all thought that if they lived in one they would be as happy as the day was long. And Faith's eyes brightened as she came near. Then she saw a little bare-footed boy standing in the road, and crying as if his heart would break.
Faith could not pass him without asking him what was the matter. And then he pointed to a broken jug of milk in the road.
"It was Mother's milk," he sobbed, "and Dad is away, and she's ill, and I've no money for more."
"Don't cry, dear," said Faith. "I've got two pennies in my pocket. Could you get some more milk with them?"
He looked at her with his sharp little eyes, but seized the pennies she held out to him, and taking hold of a tin can on the grass, he tore back along the road as fast as he could go.
Faith stood still admiring the van, which was painted green, and had white muslin curtains at the small windows tied with blue ribbon. Then she heard a weak voice calling:
"Dan! Dan!"
And acting on the impulse of the moment Faith climbed up the steps of the van and looked inside: