It was a mystery, but a sad one for Norma as she had been so proud of those six Oriental nasturtium seeds. The main subject of conversation at the breakfast table that morning was the strange disappearance of four seeds from the pill box. Rachel brought in another plate of toast while Norma described minutely the place on the shelf where she had hidden the box the night before.
Rachel thumped the plate on the table and dropped into an empty arm chair. Her eyes bulged and her mouth sagged open in dismay. Finally she gasped in awe-struck tones:
“Mis’ James, what yoh think will happen to me ef I swallowed dem foh pills?”
“What four pills, Rachel?” was the puzzled reply.
“Why dem foh seed pills in dat dyspepsy box. I got such cramps las’ night, I had to take somefin and dat was all I could fin’.”
The girls almost had hysterics from laughing at her confession, and Janet managed to say: “Norma will have to pour water down your throat every day before sun-up, and every evening after sunset, Rachel, to make the vine grow luxuriantly.”
“Janet—yoh don reely mean dat, does yoh?” was Rachel’s dread question.
“Sure, Rachel! You’ll have the finest Oriental vine coming out of your mouth in a few days that Norma ever saw!”
But Mrs. James hushed Janet’s foolish teasing and assured Rachel that she would feel no ill effects at all, from the wrong dose of seeds.