"Don't be frightened, Annie dear," said grandpapa; "they won't hurt you—keep quite still."
A few bees settled on Jack and Mary, many more on the gardener and Bob, but only two or three on grandpapa and Annie, for he was a little farther off than the others.
By-and-by all the bees flew away into the hive after their queen, and no one was stung. The hive was then placed upon a board on the ground and left there.
In the evening, when all was quiet, the gardener took up the hive and set it by the side of the other bees.
After the children had gone back to the house, Mary asked grandmamma why she did not come to see the bees hived.
"My dear, it is no new sight to me. Why, I hived the very first swarm we ever had myself."
"You hived them, grandmamma? Do tell us about it."
"It was a year or two after we were married, and a friend had given us a hive of bees in the spring. They swarmed one sunny day when your grandpapa had gone to London, and the only man handy was the gardener. He had not been with us long, and he stayed but a very short time, as he did not suit us.
"I saw the swarm myself hanging on to a red-currant bush, and I asked the gardener if he could hive the swarm. He said he didn't know anything about bees, and he didn't care to meddle with them.
"I didn't care to ask for any help from him, so I went into the kitchen and said to one of the servants, 'Ann, would you be afraid to help me hive the bees, for they have swarmed?'