she said, but with a charming glow. The basket itself was
for the green stripe in the rainbow, and there was a lovely pale blue
knitted scarf, which Madam Kittredge made herself. The indigo bothered
her, but she sent her daughter searching everywhere till she found a
beautiful Persian pattern ribbon with an indigo ground, and she made
that up into sachets with violet scent."

"That finished off two at once," said Hannah. "If I were Matty, I'd
object. I thought you said there were six parcels."

"One of the sachets was done up with dark blue ribbon and the other with
violet. But there was still another parcel, a white one, the prettiest
of all, for it held skeins of all the soft shades of embroidery silk you
ever saw in a white silk case. I don't see how any one could help liking
to look at them. Madam Kittredge said that what suggested the whole idea
to her was Matty's writing about how she enjoyed having colored silk
samples to look at, as she lay in bed. She does embroidery, too, when
she is well enough, so she will like the silks to use, by and by."

"What a charming basket!" Catherine drew a deep breath of pleasure. "I
should love to see it."

"She said she shouldn't send it for a day or two, so if you go in
to-morrow, you can. I'm sure she'd love to have you. She wanted one more
thing to make it complete. You see, without intending it, she had put in
something for every sense but hearing. There was color and fragrance and
touch and taste, and she said she wanted to get some music into it, and
she couldn't think how. Of course her friend is deaf, but that didn't
matter. She said her mind's ear was as true as ever, and she wanted her
to _hear_ something out of that basket. And wasn't it lovely! I
happened to think of something which she said would do exactly!"

"What?" "Tell us!" "Think of having a hand in such a pretty present!"
The other girls leaned forward eagerly, and the boys looked almost as
interested. Alice went on a trifle shyly, as she came to tell her own
part.

"I suggested some little poem full of color words, and that delighted
her and she thought a minute. I didn't know any, and I wished Catherine
were there with her headful! But Madam Kittredge has a headful of her
own. She had me get out two or three books and look up some that she
thought might do, but they didn't just suit her; and then she had me
open her clipping book and hunt for one called _Indian Summer_. It
was just the thing and I lov