Mamma.
Here he comes; and I am sure you both feel far more joy than the mere spending of a shilling could have given you; and the older you grow the more I trust you will know and understand of that kind of joy.
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.
THE SECRET EXPLAINED.
While Miss Lydia was at work with her Mamma, a servant came in, and said, a little girl and boy at the gate asked for Miss Lydia. Lydia coloured; and upon her Mamma’s asking who they were? said, with great eagerness, It is little Sally and her brother, Madam: may I go down to them? Pray let me go by myself? You shall see the little girl before she goes home.
Mamma’s consent was soon obtained, and Lydia, having first stepped into her room, and hastily taken a little bundle out of the drawer, flew down stairs.
When she got to the gate, she saw Sally holding a pretty little basket made of rushes, with little tufts of silk at the four corners, and covered at top with green leaves.
As soon as Sally saw Miss Lydia, she presented the basket to her, and told her, that the maid, who had bidden her to come to the house this morning, told her it was Miss Lydia’s birth-day; and she had made that basket, and taken the liberty to bring it to her.
It is a very pretty basket, indeed, said Miss Lydia; and lifting up the leaves on the top, she saw the basket was almost full of little cakes and lozenges, and on them Sally had put some bunches of services.