"While Dick dug the ground, Vea and Alfred and I arranged the flowers, much to the satisfaction of every one; and even Alfred, who was not very fond of work, said these busy days were the happiest he had ever spent.
"The day before I left my kind friends, Uncle John came over with a letter from home, saying that I was to return there immediately.
"'Oh dear; I am so sorry,' said Vea. 'I was hoping, sir, she might be allowed to stay for ever so long—at anyrate till all our gardens were finished.'
"'Ah! but there is a pleasant surprise awaiting Miss Lily there,' said my uncle, laughing. 'I am almost certain that even the lovely gardens will be quite forgotten when she sees what it is.'
"'A pleasant surprise, uncle!' I exclaimed. 'What is it?—do tell me, please!'
"'You can't be told till you reach home,' said my uncle, laughing; 'I am bound over to secrecy.' And though I over and over again tried to get him to tell me, he only laughed, as he replied, 'All in good time, Lily; you wouldn't have me break my promise, surely.'
"Dolly was so sorry to part with me, and I was so sorry to leave her, that while we were packing my clothes we cried over the trunk.
"'I wouldn't mind your going, miss,' said Dolly, 'if I thought you would remember me sometimes; but I'm thinking, now that there is a new—— Oh dear, dear,' she cried; 'I was just about to let the cat out of the bag, and what would your uncle have said to that, I wonder!'
"It was plain now that Dolly knew of the pleasant surprise that was waiting for me at home, and the thought of it helped me to be less sorry to part with her and kind Uncle John and all the pleasant things at the rectory. All the way home I kept thinking what it could be. A new doll, perhaps, that grandmamma was to send for my birth-day present; but then my birth-day did not come for weeks yet. A work-box lined with rose-pink, perhaps; but that was to arrive when my sampler was finished—and oh, what a large piece was still to be sewed. I tired myself trying to think, and at last gave it up in despair.