The Brownies had just finished their cake when the housekeeper came in. She spoke quietly to the nurseryman.
“Mrs. Gabriel is here again,” she informed him. “It is about those bulbs she asked you to order for her.”
Mr. Van Der Lann went to the window and looked out. He could see the lady’s car on the driveway near the little office.
“Why does she keep pestering me?” he demanded. “I have told her repeatedly that I want none of her business. Tell her I will not see her!”
The Brownies could not understand why the nurseryman did not like to deal with Mrs. Gabriel. Her unexpected visit seemed to upset him.
A little later, when the children were outside again, Vevi asked Hanny why her uncle turned down Mrs. Gabriel’s order.
“I do not know,” Hanny answered with a shrug.
“Who is she anyhow?” Connie questioned. She did not know anyone in Rosedale by the name of Gabriel.
“She has been here several times,” Hanny told her friends. “Always she is nice to me and once gave me a chocolate bar. But I do not like her. Uncle Peter says she is trying to get him to do something he does not want to do.”
It was nearly time to leave now, so the children went down to the canal for their bouquets of flowers.