PLANTING 83 



lean back-yard vegetables ' would do, and I could get 

 what I liked ; so I 'm going to have watermelons and 

 radishes and lettuce and peas and beets, and I 'm go- 

 ing to plant them this afternoon all myself." 



"Can I come over? " asked the boy. 



"Yes, you come over," said Mary, hospitably, "and 

 then you can help me fix the string. It 's rather hard 

 to get it straight all by yourself. Mr. Trommel lays 

 down a boar(J ; but a board is very heavy, so I take a 

 string. You know, you must have the rows straight ; 

 it 's dreadful not to. There," she said, drawing a long 

 breath, "my nasturtiums are all planted two whole 

 rows of them. Now I 'm going in. You 'd better 

 come out this way, Randolph Finnan Haddie ; you '11 

 mass my flower-bed if you try to climb the fence on 

 this side. See my gate ? " she said, as she unfastened 

 it. "Mr. Trommel made it. By and by the sun- 

 flowers will be 'way up, bigger than I am, on each side. 

 The gate is to make seclusion," she explained. 



"Good-by," she said, standing on the steps of the 

 piazza, as the new neighbor turned his face reluc- 

 tantly toward home. "I 'm I 'm very glad to make 

 your acquaintance ! " 



