"Are there blue tulips too?"
"Not that ever I heard," said Norton. "No, there are red, and yellow, and yellow striped with red, and white striped with red, and white blotched with carmine, and yellow edged with brown or purple, and a thousand sorts; but never a blue."
"That's odd, isn't it?" said Matilda. "And nobody ever heard of a blue rose."
"Perhaps they will, though." said Norton. "There are black roses, and green roses. But I don't believe either there can be a blue rose; it is against nature."
"But how many tulips will you have, Norton? you said two or three yellow ones; and there are a thousand sorts."
"Well, I will not have all the sorts," said Norton; "but I tell you what I will do. I will fill all that bank with them and hyacinths, I shall want a hundred or so."
"Do they cost much?"
"Pretty well," said Norton; "if you get the costly sorts. They are a dollar a-piece, some of them. But plenty are nice for fifty cents, and thirty cents."
"Your tulip bed will cost—a great deal, Norton!"
"And that bed over there," Norton went on, pointing, "shall be your bed; and I will fill it with hyacinths for you. You shall choose what colours, Pink. They will be beautiful in May. Those shall be yours."