t to get into the cart--but
if I did I couldn't never get in and out at the shops."

She looked appealingly at her elder daughter.

"The cart's _going_ in with the butter," she added.

But Bella was not inclined to take the hint.

"You don't catch me driving into Lenham with the cart full of butter and
eggs and such," she said. "Whatever'd Charlie say? Why shouldn't Lilac
go? She's sharp enough."

There seemed no reason against this, and it was accordingly settled that
Lilac should be entrusted with Mrs Greenways' commissions. As she
received them, her mind was so full of the dazzling prospect of driving
into Lenham with the butter that it was almost impossible to bring it to
bear on anything else. It would be like going into the world. Only
once in her whole life had she been there before, and that was when her
mother had taken her long ago. She was quite a little child then, but
she remembered the look of it still, and what a grand place she had
thought it, with its broad market square and shops and so many people
about.

When her aunt had finished her list, which was a very long one, Bella
was ready with her wants, which were even more puzzling.

"I want this ribbon matched," she said, "and I want a bonnet shape. It
mustn't be too high in the crown nor yet too broad in the brim, and it
mustn't be like the one Charlotte Smith's got now. If you can't match
the ribbon exactly you must get me another shade. A kind of a sap
green, I think--but it must be something uncommon. And you might ask at
Jones's what's being worn in hats now--feathers or artificials. Oh, and
I want some cream lace, not more than sixpence a yard, a good striking
pattern, and as deep as you can get for the money." Agnetta having
added to this two ounces of coconut rock and a threepenny bottle of
scent, Lilac was allowed to get ready for her expedition. The cart was
waiting in the yard with the baskets packed in at the back, and Ben was
buckling the last strap of the harness. She expected that he was going
with her, and it was quite a pleasant surprise when Peter came out of
the house with a whip in his hand and took the reins. Nothing could
have happened more fortunately, she thought to herself as they drove out
of the gate, for now there would be no difficulty at all in saying what
she had on her mind. This and the excitement of the journey itself put
her in excellent spirits, so that though some people might have called
the