Mrs. John made no response, but she pressed a warm kiss on Rose's lips, and her little daughter saw she was pleased, and added ingenuously—
"I asked God to make you understand I'd done my best, and He has."
[CHAPTER XI]
HAPPY DAYS
IT was a beautiful afternoon in May. The lilac and laburnum trees were in full bloom in the Mill House garden. And fritillaries—snakes' heads, as some people call them—were plentiful in the meadows surrounding W—, lifting their purple and white speckled heads above the buttercups and daisies in the fresh-springing green grass.
"I think they are such funny flowers," said Mavis, who with Rose, had been for a walk by the towpath towards Oxford, along which they were now returning. She looked at the big bunch of fritillaries she had gathered, as she spoke. "And though they are really like snakes' heads, I call them very pretty," she added.
"Yes," agreed Rose. "Look, Mavis, there's Mr. Moseley in front of us. He's been sending Max into the water. I expect we shall catch up to him."
"And then I shall be able to tell him my news!" Mavis cried delightedly. "Oh, Rosie, I don't think I was ever so happy in my life before as I am to-day!"
A few minutes later, the two little girls had overtaken the Vicar. And, after they had exchanged greetings with him, Mavis told him her news, which she had only heard that morning, that her mother and Miss Dawson were returning to England, and were expected to arrive before midsummer.
"No wonder you look so radiant," he said, kindly.