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season were cold and backward, it was difficult to get enough; but this
year, as Lilac had noticed with delight, it had been so bright and mild
that the meadows were thick with blossoms and there was no fear of any
scarcity. She was always amongst the children chosen "to gather"; and
there was more in this office than might at first appear, for there were
good gatherers and bad gatherers. It might be done carelessly and in a
half-hearted manner, or with full attention and earnest effort, and
these results were evident when each child brought her own collection to
the school room on May morning. The contents of the baskets were very
different, for some showed plainly that as little trouble as possible
had been taken. These flowers were picked anyhow, with short stalks or
long stalks, in bud or too fully blown, faded or fresh, just as they
happened to grow and could be most easily got. Others, again, you could
see at the first glance, had been gathered with care and thought, the
finest specimens chosen just at the right stage of blossoming, and tied
in neat bunches with the stalks all of one length. You might be sure
that the flowers in these baskets were quite as good at the bottom as
those on the top. Now, Lilac White was a gatherer on whom you might
depend, and the ladies at the Rectory who made the wreaths, and dressed
the Queen, and arranged the festivities, considered her their best
support in the matter of flowers. For, by reason of having had her eye
upon them for weeks beforehand, she knew every spring where the finest
grew, whether they were early or late, and whether they would be ready
for the great occasion. When they had to be gathered she spared no
trouble, but would get up at any hour so that they might be picked
before the sun scorched them, walk any distance or climb the steepest
hills to get the very finest possible. She was always appealed to when
any question arose about the flowers. "We must ask Lilac White whether
the king-cups are out," Miss Ellen would say; and Lilac was always able
to tell. She filled, therefore, a very pleasant and important post at
these times, and took great pride in it; but her Cousin Agnetta looked
at this part of the affair differently. To her there was neither
pleasure nor profit in "mucking" about in the damp fields, as she said,
getting her feet wet, and spoiling her frock in stooping about after the
flowers. She wished Mrs Leigh would let them wear artific