“Tommy!” called Miss Margaret, in a stern voice, and Tommy, followed by Annabel, obeyed the summons.
Then Miss Margaret explained to Tommy that he had often been very rude and unkind to Annabel, and that in the future they must all be friends. Whereupon Annabel held out her hand to Tommy, and Tommy promptly pushed it away.
Miss Margaret was wisely blind to this by-play, and began to unfold a plan she had formed.
“I’m thinking about the garden,” she said, meditatively, and the children forgot each other and gave their attention to her.
“I think it will grow again; but it will be very slow. Wouldn’t it be rather nice to plant some other flowers, and take care of them until the grasses come again?”
“How?” demanded Tommy.
“I thought we might have boxes made to stand on the ground under the window, and——”
“Not on my garden,” interrupted Tommy.
“No, most certainly not. Not right on your garden, but quite close up to the windows. One will be an unusual shape, because under the kitchen window there’s the drain to think of, too.” Miss Margaret looked out. “It isn’t raining now; shall we go and measure the lengths of our boxes?”
Downstairs they ran, borrowed Mrs. Tregennis’s inch-tape, and outside under the windows they all three measured.