Mr. Dawson crossed in answer to her call.
After a few moments' conversation she returned to the girls, saying gaily:—
"It's all right, he says we may have it!"
They gazed upon her wonderingly.
"What do you mean?"
Alene laughed.
"There, I forgot it was a secret. Well, here goes—All the horses are out at the farm now, but Uncle Fred says we may have the surrey if Mat can get a horse!"
Laura clapped her hands, and Ivy, who had been unusually silent and depressed in the last half hour, brightened and her face was fairly radiant with joy as she cried:
"Oh, Alene! You good fairy godmother! It's just like Cinderella and her pumpkin coach!"
"But we mustn't wear glass slippers," said Laura. "You see, Alene, when we go a-berrying we always wear our heaviest shoes and battered bonnets and patched dresses, for the thorns tear our shoes and clothes."