She turned to her mother and whispered:
"Let Flippie stay. Make some agreement with him and let us try him as errand-boy or general help in the house and garden."
Mrs. van Warmelo nodded and turned again to him. The conversation which passed between them is not recorded in Hansie's diary, but Flippie stayed, and within a week the Harmonites wondered how they had managed to exist without him for so long.
He was as sharp as a needle, and, though only thirteen years of age, he proved to be a perfect "man" of business, rising early every day to go to the morning market and gardening with surprising energy and ambition.
This pleased Mrs. van Warmelo so much that she gave him a plot of ground to cultivate for himself, and he immediately set to work to plant vegetables, spending every spare moment of the day in his garden.
When Hansie laughingly said that she hoped to be his first customer, he protested vehemently against the idea of selling anything to her, and time showed that he meant to keep his word.
All he had was given away with large-hearted generosity and when he had nothing more to give, he took all he required from other people!
Yes, I am afraid Flippie's ideas of honesty were curious in the extreme. He had no idea of "mine and thine," as we say in Dutch.[2]
Arguments were of no avail, for Flippie was the scornfullest little boy I ever came across and knew everything better than his superiors.
Hansie set to work to study him, but found it necessary to reconstruct her ideas of him every day. Flippie baffled her at every turn.