'Indeed I shall not!' she retorted insolently.
'Wait, wait!' continued sturdy Bramble; ''tis the time of flowers now—wait till the fruit-time comes.'
'I do not know what you mean,' she retorted angrily; 'nor do I'—
'That there is a time for all things,' explained Shepherd's Clock, interrupting her.
'I trust your high hopes will be realized,' said Speedwell kindly.
How much longer this wrangling would have continued it is impossible to say, for at that moment the gentleman returned with a trowel, spade, and basket, and proceeded to remove her from her native soil. In justice to her, it must be confessed that, when the moment came to part for ever from all her old friends, and the surroundings to which, in spite of her incessant murmurs, she felt attached, she clung desperately with her slender, fibrous roots to the familiar spot where from a seedling she had lived and grownyes, clung desperately! But with the utmost care every tender fibre was released, and she was placed in the basket and carried away. Was she glad now? No, far from it—wishing again and again that she had been left alone.
However, it was too late. She had always complained of not being in her proper position, and now the glorious change was come; she was being taken to where her hopes had aspired,—a conservatory or a greenhouse, it mattered not which.
After a while, with the usual indifference of such natures, her regrets subsided, giving place to thoughts respecting the place in which she was destined to live.
'Of course I shall be welcomed by all the nobler flowers with delight and astonishment,' she mused; 'delight because of my agreeable manners, and astonishment at my beauty! How I wish my old hedgerow friends could but be present to witness my reception!'
But this reception, upon which she built such bright fancies, was delayed for some few days, for, on arriving at her destination, she was carried into a dingy shed, not into the splendid glass palace her visions had conjured up.