Belle agreed eagerly to the proposition, and the lady then mentioned the salary she would pay, by the hour, for this service of Belle’s. Also Frances mentioned her charge for the use of the car, which was agreed to without demur.
“Now I wish your man would drive me to the railway station at the nearest point where a train can be taken without losing more time. I do not care which town it is, as long as I can get back to the city before two o’clock.”
Belle was left standing speechless on the footpath as the car drove rapidly away, and Norma smiled happily. “Did you pray as I told you to, Belle?” asked she.
“Uh-huh!” was all the reply Norma got, but she understood Belle’s ways and ran back to her flowers without another word. Belle walked slowly toward the house to get her hat and handbag so as to start on the new venture as soon as Frances returned from the White Plains railroad station.
CHAPTER XIII—BELLE’S CHOICE OF A PROFESSION
Solomon’s Seal Patrol invited the Tenderfoot members to their camp on the afternoon before the Fourth of July to begin their lessons in scouting. Frances agreed to notify the three Greenville girls of the invitation and then call for them at the time appointed.
Because of the afternoon to be spent at the camp, Natalie planned to give her entire morning to the garden. There had been enough rainfall at intervals, during the time she had first started her garden, to keep the plants sufficiently moist, but for several days, now, the sun had baked the soil and there had been no sign of a cloud in the sky.
At breakfast that Saturday morning Natalie spoke of it. “Jimmy, my garden is as dry as a lime-kiln. What had I better do about it?”
“You might try sprinkling it with a hose. I see there is a hydrant right near the box-hedge—for that very purpose, I guess.”
“I never thought of that! But I will need a hose,” said Natalie.