"These are done now," she answered, gathering up the bits and putting them into the fire, where they crackled up into a blaze and made the kettle boil up in good earnest.
So she took off her bonnet, and when she came back Jem had put a small square hamper on the table ready for her to open.
"Do you think mother would like to see what my mistress has given me?" she asked a little timidly; for "mother" was a new word to her lips; hitherto it had always been "your mother."
"I dare say she would, Meg; and tea don't matter for a few minutes."
So Meg left the hamper untouched and went to the cupboard where she had seen the cups, and began to set three on a small tray she found there.
"Here is some milk, Jem!" she exclaimed; "how kind your mother is; and some bread and butter too all ready."
"Mother's in general very thoughtful," he answered, going over to her and lifting the tray to the chiffonier. "It will be handy there, against we have cleared the table."
At this moment there was a knock at the door, which Jem hastened to answer by opening it wide.
"I've brought her," he said, by way of introduction.
And then Mrs. Seymour saw her new daughter-in-law for the first time. That slim graceful figure, clothed in a simple, plainly-made dress of some mixture of grey and brown, which Meg had decided on for her wedding dress, because it would wear well in London, and then the blushing gentle face above it. Jem had not said a word too much in her praise, as far as she could judge by the first glance.