Ah , Sylvia , you were wrong ! There was somebody else -- somebody who cared very much -- an Old Lady , with eager , devouring eyes , who was standing under the lilac bush and who presently stole away through the moonlit orchard to the woods like a shadow , going home with a vision of you in your girlish beauty to companion her through the watches of that summer night . IV . The August Chapter One day the minister 's wife rushed in where Spencervale people had feared to tread , went boldly to Old Lady Lloyd , and asked her if she would n't come to their Sewing Circle , which met fortnightly on Saturday afternoons . `` We are filling a box to send to our Trinidad missionary , '' said the minister 's wife , `` and we should be so pleased to have you come , Miss Lloyd . '' The Old Lady was on the point of refusing rather haughtily . Not that she was opposed to missions -- or sewing circles either -- quite the contrary , but she knew that each member of the Circle was expected to pay ten cents a week for the purpose of procuring sewing materials ; and the poor Old Lady really did not see how she could afford it . But a sudden thought checked her refusal before it reached her lips . `` I suppose some of the young girls go to the Circle ? '' she said craftily . `` Oh , they all go , '' said the minister 's wife . `` Janet Moore and Miss Gray are our most enthusiastic members . It is very lovely of Miss Gray to give her Saturday afternoons -- the only ones she has free from pupils -- to our work . But she really has the sweetest disposition . '' `` I 'll join your Circle , '' said the Old Lady promptly . She was determined she would do it , if she had to live on two meals a day to save the necessary fee . She went to the Sewing Circle at James Martin 's the next Saturday , and did the most beautiful hand sewing for them . She was so expert at it that she did n't need to think about it at all , which was rather fortunate , for all her thoughts were taken up with Sylvia , who sat in the opposite corner with Janet Moore , her graceful hands busy with a little boy 's coarse gingham shirt . Nobody thought of introducing Sylvia to Old Lady Lloyd , and the Old Lady was glad of it . She sewed finely away , and listened with all her ears to the girlish chatter which went on in the opposite corner .
One thing she found out -- Sylvia 's birthday was the twentieth XXXXX August .
before for if in of on that through under with