"Oh, mother," said Angel again, a sleepy head on the pillow, "it is nice to have a birthday!"
[CHAPTER VI]
THE GREAT BIRTHDAY
THE bells were ringing merrily from the tower of the old church close to Pleasant Place.
The street near the church was full of people bustling to and fro, going in and out of the different shops, and hurrying along as if none of them had any time to lose. The shops were unusually gay and tempting, for it was Christmas Eve. Even Pleasant Place looked a little less dull than usual. There were sprigs of holly in some of the windows, and most of the houses were a little cleaner and brighter than usual.
Angel and her mother had been very busy all day. They had just finished their mangling, and had put all the clothes out of the way for Christmas Day, when they heard a knock at the door, and Angel went to open it.
"It's a basket, mother," she said. "It can't be for us."
The man who had brought the basket laughed.
"It's for an Angel!" he said. "Have you got any of that article in here? Here's the direction I was to bring it to—'Little Angel, No. 9, Pleasant Place.'"
"Then, please, it's for me," said Angel.