Matilda had a covered basket already packed.

She welcomed the two lads with a happy smile.

Birthdays came and went in her life just as they did with other people, only as a rule there was scant reason to celebrate them, save as they marked the fact that Matilda was "getting old." But somehow the presence of cheery Brother Lu seemed to have started something.

Possibly, although Matilda could not dream of what was coming, some intuition caused her to feel that this day was to be different from any other in her past.

A sense of something good impending may have thrilled her poor pulses, though if asked why she found any particular reason for smiling, and throwing off her yoke of worry for a brief spell, she could have given no intelligent answer.
Brother Lu bustled up.