"Oh, lovely! And what kind of sheet or wet blanket is old Griggs preparing for my eyes in front?"
"Oh, the old owl! I must run and see he is doing as I told him. You might be useful, sir, for a bit, mightn't you? and begin popping in those daffodils under that tree exactly as I have arranged them. I will be back directly."
His Reverence loved walking round with a tall spud prodding up weeds, but it was a new idea to set him to work in other ways. I left him for some time and came back with a heated face.
"Just imagine! Oh, really, sir, we can't go on with that—that—unutterable idiot! He won't do as he is told. What do you think he was doing? I told him to plant all that front piece of grass with crocuses, you know—told him as plainly as I could speak—and there he was burying my crocuses, by handfuls I think, in the border."
"Oh, well, he doesn't understand your ideas, you see, Mary; he has not seen them carried out yet."
"Oh, but he did understand, only he said it would take longer to plant them in the grass and they would come up better in the border. 'I want that for tulips,' I said, and stood over him while he unburied all he had done. Then he said, 'Can't stand cuttin' up the grass like this; better put 'em straight 'long that shady border there, give a bit o' colour to it.' 'I want them here, in the grass,' I said. 'And how 'bout my mowing? I shall cut 'em to pieces.' That was a bright idea, he thought. 'You don't begin mowing until after the crocuses are well over; that won't hurt.' And now I have spread them all over the lawn myself and left him to put them in. He can't make any further mistake I hope."
His Reverence was laughing. Old Griggs amused him much more than he did me.
"How many have you done?" I asked, and I looked at the still unburied bulbs. "Why, sir—"
"I have done two, Mary, really; but look at this pile of plantains! Oh, these horrid things! you must clear the garden of them."
"I can't," I said sternly. "There is too much else to do. What we want is colour, flowers everywhere. The plantains are green so they don't disturb the harmony. But you may take them up if you like."