Then Natalie found she had made an admission that would have to be explained.
“No, not buried them, but we mistook the plants. It was such an easy thing to do—to believe the string-beans were limas, you know.”
“Oh! Then you never followed my advice about tagging the different beds.”
But Natalie did not reply.
The following morning, Janet asked Frances to inquire if there was a package for her at the post-office, as it should have arrived several days before.
“Is it a big package?” asked Frances.
“No, it’s a book that I ordered from the city. It’s all about raising things. Not that I need to find out about chickens and pigs, but I expect to buy that calf from Mr. Ames, and Belle saw some sheep in a pasture up in the Hills the other day, when she was hunting for antiques. I am wondering if they are difficult to raise. That is why I want the book.”
The book arrived that morning, and Janet straightway applied herself to studying its pages, in order to learn what other farmyard animals she could keep that would not give her too much trouble, and repay her for the expense incurred.
The result of that reading was to rouse Janet’s growing ambition to fever-heat. She determined upon a plan by which she could borrow the capital from her father and buy her stock without further loss of time. But her experiences are told in the volume following this one, called “Janet: a Stock-Farm Scout.”
Natalie’s garden beds began to look most flourishing, for every seed had sprouted and the transplanted greens were growing like wildfire. She began to figure ahead to find how soon she might gather crops, but she kept this vision a secret, as she knew the girls would tease if they heard of it.