"Yes, I do mean!" interrupted Anna. "I'm the happy mother of a bouncing girlie six months old! I kept it as a surprise. She's such a darling, Venna!"
"I'm so glad for you, Anna. It must be a wonderful happiness to be a mother," she added wistfully.
"There, dear! I'm going to show you how to mother the whole world! No sad thoughts now. I think only of cheerful things. I'll have you the same old bright dear in no time. You shall spend the whole summer with me—we are going for six months, to a quiet little country place because of baby—where the air is fine and I can give my whole attention to her. Why, I hate the servants to even touch her! I'll let you though, and won't she make you laugh again! You'll forget what sadness is. You will go with us, won't you, dear?"
"Oh, how I would love to! Indeed I will!" exclaimed Venna, brightening. "God is good after all. He always finds us a way."
"Of course He's good, Venna, and gives us all Good. It is only our foolish mortal minds that imagine evil."
Venna did not understand what Anna meant, but she thanked God in her heart for sending her friend and with her the sunshine.
CHAPTER VI.
Under the influence of spring, sunshine and flowers, our souls give birth to new thoughts, new ambitions.
The little village store in Ashfield was buzzing. It was mail-time and the good wife of the proprietor, the post-master and mayor—in other words, the wife of the chief all-round citizen, was sorting and pigeon-holing the mail.
Around the store waited a goodly representation of the neighborhood—long, lanky workmen; fat, prosperous home-dwellers who "worked in the city," dirty little urchins with sticky hands, and pretty young girls stylishly dressed.