nly thought of the pleasure
of being in the midst of all the people and the bustle, and the shops and
market-stalls, with their loads of fruit and sweets and buns. The great
aim of Margery's life then was to grow big enough to carry in a basketful
of flowers too, and sell them, and to possess a purse to put the money in,
and a Savings Bank book, just as Bella had.

As the summer wore on and the days grew hotter and hotter, the eagerness
of both died down a good deal. It was far more pleasant, they found, to
stay at home and play in the cool lane or orchard, than to get up at four
in the morning and tramp about all day long under the weight of heavy
baskets. Some days they even found it too hot to walk with their father
as far as the milestone.

Those were trying, tiring days for Tom and Bella, days that put their
courage to the test, and made their perseverance waver more than once.
The walk in the morning was lovely still, but the standing about in the
close, narrow streets, crowded with people and animals, without even a
rest at the end of their five-mile walk, was so wearying that Bella often
longed to sit down on the edge of the pavement to rest her aching feet.

Her cheeks would grow scarlet, and her head throb, and her eyes ache with
the glare, and the heat and the weight of the baskets, but she could not
do anything to get relief. She had to stand or walk about, trying to sell
her flowers as quickly as possible. There was nothing else to be done.
The poor flowers suffered too, and hard work it was to keep them looking
fresh.

Sometimes a farmer or carter would offer the two tired little
market-gardeners a 'lift' on their homeward way, but this did not happen
often, for, as a rule, they were all going in the opposite direction.
There were few besides Bella and Tom who left the town so early; and it
would have been cooler and pleasanter for them if they had waited until
the evening and the heat of the day was over, but they were always anxious
to get home, and they really did not know where to go or what to do with
themselves all the weary day until five or six o'clock.

That was a very long, hot summer. The flowers opened and faded quickly,
in spite of the hours the whole family spent every evening watering them;
and more than once, if it had not been for the fruit from the orchard and
the vegetables, Bella and Tom would have had but a scanty supply to take
to their customers. As it was, they could not