This last was Huldah's special joy and pride.
"We'll have a proper little garden there, when the spring comes," she remarked proudly to Aunt Emma.
Aunt Emma shook her head in melancholy fashion.

"I shan't be here to see it." "Oh yes you will.

You'll be helping me with the spring cleaning," said Huldah, trying to keep cheerful,--one of the hardest of her daily tasks, for Aunt Emma's melancholy seldom left her.

She never saw the bright side of anything, poor soul, nor the best, nor did she try to; and the depressingness of it told on the child's spirits more than anyone knew.
She worked very hard indeed at this time.

The vicar had given them the rooms rent-free; but Huldah's basket-making had to supply almost everything else--food, clothing, lights, and many an extra--needed for Aunt Emma.