H 



CHAPTER XI 



MAKING THE SUMMER-HOUSE 



[May] 



EKE PETEK TKOMMEL was very busy in his 

 greenhouse, apron on and sleeves rolled up, but 

 for once the plants were deserted. He was leaning 

 over the potting-bench, a stubby pencil in one big 

 hand, absorbed in his work on a paper before him. 

 At last he straightened his back with a little grunt 

 of satisfaction. "Ha! that is right!" Then he 

 chuckled to himself, "Peter Trommel, you old 

 foolish one, you better go out for a children's nurse 

 and let the plants alone ! " Then he bent over the 

 sketch again, regarding it with growing admiration. 

 "But it will be a fine little garden-house!" he ex- 

 claimed. "I could not let that dear child have a 

 thing of chicken-wire, and she was sure we must have 

 a summer-house. This small latticed thing will be 

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