"Oh, what a funny little girl!" said Miss Trimble, laughing again. "Well, good-bye my dear, I must away to my little jobs!"
She went off, and Bets was glad. "Her glasses fell off six times, Luke," she said.
"You're a caution, you are," said Luke. "I only hope she doesn't go and tell Mr. Tupping she saw you here!"
But that is just what Miss Trimble did do! She did not mean any harm. She did not even know that Tupping had ordered the children out of the garden some days before. She was picking roses the very next day, when Tupping came along behind her and stood watching her.
Miss Trimble began to feel scared, as she always did when the surly gardener came along. He was so rude. She turned and gave him a frightened smile.
"Lovely morning, Tupping, isn't it?" she said. "Beautiful roses these."
"Won't be beautiful long when you've finished messing about with them," said Tupping.
"Oh, I'm not spoiling them!" said Miss Trimble. "I know how to pick roses."
"You don't know any more than a child!" said surly Tupping, enjoying seeing how scared poor Miss Trimble was of him.
The mention of a child made Miss Trimble remember Bets. "Oh," she said, trying to turn the conversation away from roses — "oh, there was such a dear little girl with Luke in the garden yesterday!"