"Run away now, without another word," was the playful reply. "I'm neither busy nor tired this afternoon."
So Mildred went, slept soundly for a couple of hours, and toward tea-time came down to the sitting-room, looking quite rested and refreshed; very sweet and pretty, too, they all thought, in new and tasteful attire, and with her glossy brown hair becomingly arranged.
She found her mother and the older girls sewing.
"How nice you look!" Zillah said, surveying her admiringly. "That's a lovely dress, and made so prettily! Will you let me have mine made like it?"
"Yes, indeed, and help you make it, too. Mother, how have you managed with the sewing while I've been gone?"
"Pretty well, Milly. Zillah has become quite a needle-woman, and Ada does remarkably well, too, considering her imperfect sight. Housework suits her best on that account. They are dear, helpful girls—both of them."
"Milly, Milly," cried Cyril, rushing in from the grounds, "come and look at our gardens, and our hens and chickens, before it grows too dark."
"The gardens aren't much to look at now," laughed Zillah.
"But she can see pretty well what they have been, and we'll tell her the rest," returned Cyril, leading the way.