"We'll share all the sweeties, Bob," said Mavis; "of course we shall do that. I only want one box of preserved fruit for myself, to give to Mrs. Long, and the rest I should like Aunt Lizzie to put with the nice things she has bought for Christmas."
"Very well," Mrs. John agreed, pleased at the suggestion, "I will do so. You shall have some of the fruit on Christmas Day and the rest later on, or we shall be having all the good things at once. By the way, what makes you wish to give a present to Mrs. Long, Mavis?"
Mrs. Long was the stout, rosy-cheeked washerwoman Mavis had first seen on the day she had said good-bye to her mother. On subsequent occasions, the little girl had held conversations with her, but Mrs. John did not know that.
"She has been very kind to me, Aunt Lizzie," Mavis answered.
"Oh, I don't mean that she's done anything for me, you know," she continued, as she met her aunt's glance of surprise, "but she's spoken to me so nicely about mother that I quite love her. She says she knows what it is to be separated from some one, one loves very dearly, for her only daughter married and went to New Zealand, and her husband's dead, so that now she's all alone. I should like to give her a little present for Christmas, if you do not mind."
"Of course I do not mind, child. All these things are your own, to do as you like with."
"I want other people to enjoy them too," Mavis said earnestly. "I never had anything to give away before this Christmas."
She selected one of the prettiest of the boxes of preserved fruits, and, later in the day, she and her cousins called at Mrs. Long's cottage in the village and presented it to the kind-hearted washerwoman, who, needless to say, was exceedingly pleased.
What a happy Christmas that was, and yet how Mavis had dreaded it! It brought her nothing but joy from the moment she opened her eyes on Christmas morning till, wearied out, she closed them at night.
Afterwards, she wrote to her mother all about it, and told her how rich she was in presents, for, besides Miss Dawson's Christmas-box, she had received remembrances from every member of the household at the Mill House, and from Miss Tompkins too, as well as Christmas cards from several of her schoolfellows.