Unknowingly, the little girl had picked up another bag in exchange. The mistake was certain to cause a great deal of trouble for Mrs. Gabriel, but of this, Vevi was blissfully unaware.
Chapter 14
MR. PIFF’S TROUBLES
“MOTHER, how can the Brownie Scouts have a tulip bed—one that will grow fast?”
Vevi asked the question at the breakfast table. It was the morning after Mrs. Langley’s flower show and she still felt rather tired.
“A tulip bed?” repeated Vevi’s mother absently. She was reading the paper and not paying too much attention to the conversation. “I am afraid it is too late for this year, dear.”
“Hanny gave me a bag of bulbs yesterday, Mother.”
“Why, that’s fine,” approved Mrs. McGuire. “You can wrap them in paper and keep them in a cool place until fall.”
“But I want tulips right away,” Vevi insisted. “How can I make them grow fast?”
“I’m afraid you can’t, dear. Nurserymen sometimes ‘force’ plants to bring them to flower earlier or out of season. That however, takes special skill and exact temperatures. Fertilizer, of course, helps to make plants develop fast.”