Mr. Marvin complimented the girls on all their work, and then spoke of the roses in Natalie"s cheeks and the difference in her general physical looks.
"I suppose you are going to stay to dinner, aren"t you?" ventured Natalie cautiously.
"No; we are invited to dine with some friends quite near Green Hill Farm, but we thought we ought to stop in and see you before we go on to our hostess"s place," said Mr. Marvin.
"I never knew you people were acquainted with anyone around here," said Janet, wonderingly, to her mother.
"We are, however. A young lady we know well in the city is summering in Greenville, and we came to visit her and her family."
Neither of the girls dreamed that Mrs. Wardell was referring to Miss Mason and her Troop, so they kept guessing who the acquaintance might be. Finally Mr. Marvin laughed and told the secret.
Natalie laughed, too, and said: "Well, we certainly were thick-witted that time. We might have known it was Miss Mason"s camp."
Mr. Marvin could not take his eyes from Natalie, she was so different from the girl he had always known in the city. As she told of the adventures she and the girls had with their "professions" and the funny experiences with the old garden hose, her face was so alive with healthy interest and her eyes sparkled with such fun, that everyone saw the benefit the country life had been to her.
Later, as they all started for Solomon"s Seal Camp, Mr. Marvin confided to Mrs. James: "She is so changed that I do not dread her return to the city again. She hasn"t spoken one morbid word, nor seemed pessimistic once, since I"ve been here."
"She isn"t, either," admitted Mrs. James. "Ever since she started work on that garden she has mentioned nothing that has happened in the past to cause her sorrow. I sometimes wonder if she has forgotten it all."
"Let"s hope so. These mournful remembrances never do anyone the slightest good. Don"t revive them in her memory."
CHAPTER XIV-VISITORS AND WELCOME ORDERS
That afternoon at the Scout Camp taught the city visitors many things about the outdoor life that now interested their girls. Then when it was time for Mr. Marvin to drive home, he suddenly remembered something most important.
"How could it have slipped my mind?" said he, as he took several folded papers from his breast pocket.
He adjusted his gla.s.ses and read: "Miss Norma Evaston, Floriculturist, Green Hill, Greenville, New York."
This long paper was handed to Norma who opened it with much curiosity.
She glanced at it and then exclaimed in surprise,
"Oh, splendid! What does it mean?"
"Well, I"ll tell you. I told a few friends of your idea of keeping their office desks refreshed with old-fashioned flowers during the summer, and each one signified a desire to be placed on your customer list. So, you see, when the plants blossom, many of us will expect bouquets."
And then Mr. Marvin handed Belle a paper. She almost forgot her dignity in her joy.
"Mr. Marvin authorizes me to find him an old Colonial secretaire with diamond-paned gla.s.s in the upper doors, and the old urn and b.a.l.l.s crowning the top. I"m sure I know just where to get such an one!"
"I want a mahogany one, Belle, and I am not particular about the cost, either. The condition of it will govern the price," explained the lawyer.
Janet frowned over the paper which Mr. Marvin now gave her. "What"s the matter with your order, Janet?" asked Helene.
"Why, here I have orders for fresh eggs and broilers every week, and the horrid old hens won"t lay a single egg. Three of them insist upon setting, and I can"t keep them away from the nests that have China decoy eggs in them. The silly old things just set on them and chuckle with satisfaction. If I shoo them away, they make the _most_ fuss!"
Everyone laughed at Janet"s trials, but Mr. Marvin said, "That order stands good for all season, Janet. When your hens do begin to lay, you"ll have to ship the eggs by the car-load."
"How about an order for me?" called Natalie, seeing a paper in Mr.
Marvin"s hand.
""Last but not least,"" laughed he. "We have all voted to turn vegetarians after this, just to order your crops, Natalie. Here is an order for our winter potatoes, all the sweet corn you have left to sell, and other fresh things."
Natalie laughed and opened her paper. She laughed still louder as she read the orders given her to fill at some future date.
Then the city visitors said good-by. As Mr. Marvin started the engine, he called back over his shoulder: "A month from to-day I am coming out with a truck for deliveries."
The girls laughed and waved their hands at him, and soon the car was out of sight. Then they sat down to discuss the marvellous opportunity given them by Mr. Marvin.
After a time, Sam sauntered up to the side piazza and waited for an opportunity to speak to Mrs. James. Seeing him anxiously awaiting his chance, she smiled.
"What rests so heavily on your conscience, Sam?"
"I jus" walked down Miss Natalie"s garden path to have a look at her wegetables, an" I see dem brush peas is "way up. She oughta get her brush to-morrer, sure, er she"ll have trouble makin" t" vines cling. Ef she says t" word, I"ll go an" cut down some good brush in t" woodland afore she gets up in t" mornin" an" have it ready to use when she comes out."
"Oh, Sam! Will you, please? I didn"t know those peas needed anything to hold to. I wasn"t sure whether I planted the dwarf peas first, or the climbing variety," exclaimed Natalie.
"That ain"t all, either, Miss Nat," added Sam seriously. "I saw you got lima beans planted in one bed, an" no poles on hand fer "em. Did you order any bean poles f"om Ames?"
"Bean poles! Why, no!" returned Natalie.
The girls laughed at her surprise, but Sam continued:
"How did you "speckt the vines to clim"?"
"I never knew they did climb! I thought they just naturally grew and branched out and bore beans," explained Natalie, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of Mrs. James and the girls.
"Well, den, I"d better hunt up some decent poles, too, in t" woods, eh?"
asked Sam.
"Would you have to cut down any good trees?"
"I"d choose any what looked sickly, er maybe some dead young trees.
Don"t worry "bout me choppin" down any fine ones."
"Say, Nat, I think it will be fun for us all to go with Sam in the morning before breakfast, and help cut the brush and bean poles,"
suggested Janet.
"I"m willin"," said Sam, smiling at the girls.
So the five girls went with Sam at sunrise the next morning, and by breakfast-time, Natalie had sufficient poles and brush at her garden beds to help all the peas and beans she could find room for that year.
The stock-grower and florist, and even the antiquarian, took such an interest in sticking the brush into the garden for the peas and helping the tendrils cling to their new support, that they left their own tasks undone.