d. "There are eleven more weeks to do it in," she said.

But Kitty covered her ears. "Don't, don't," she cried--"just when I
have been telling myself that time is flying, and that I haven't many
more chances."

"Well, you haven't _many_," laughed Pamela. "Of course we don't go
every week. I think you are wise, though, to get your things while you
have the money, and if you see things later that you like better you
mustn't mind."

"I shall keep my eyes turned away from the shops," said Kitty. "Now be
quiet, Pamela, while I make my list."

"Mine is ready," said Pamela, with something between a laugh and a sigh,
and she held up a blank sheet.

"Haven't you any one to get anything for?" said Kitty sympathetically,
sorry At once that she had talked so much about herself. "Poor Pamela!"

"Only Miss Hammond," said Pamela. "We generally give her some flowers--
most of us do, at least. Rhoda Collins doesn't; she says it seems such
a waste of money, as flowers fade so soon. I suggested one
day that she should give Miss Hammond a cake instead, as that at any
rate was useful."

"And did she?"

"No; she said one couldn't get anything very nice for a penny."

Kitty tittered. "Flowers for Miss Hammond," she wrote on her list.
"What do you give to Miss Pidsley?"

"Miss Pidsley!" Pamela looked surprised at her question. "Oh, nothing.
You see, Miss Hammond goes with us, and--and--well, we all like her; but
Miss Pidsley--I don't know why, but I think we never thought of giving
her anything. I should be afraid to."

The shopping was really great fun; the girls swarmed about the counters
and wandered about the shops, going into raptures over this thing and
hesitating about buying that thing, until it really seemed as though all
the purchases never would be made. Yet by degrees they somehow acquired
a great many curious possessions.

Kitty bought a nice pocket-book for her father, a little brooch for
Betty, a book for Tony, and a penknife for Anna; but it took so long to
decide on these that she left her presents for the servants to get
another day, for she still had to buy her flowers for Miss Hammond, and
teatime was fast approaching. The flower-shop was perhaps the most
fascinating of all; the cut flowers, the ferns, and the plants in the
pots were perfectly bewildering in their beauty. Kitty was in raptures,
and almost wished she had bought flowers to take home to them all,
instead of the things she had got.