PLANTING IN THE SEED-BED 
61 
along just behind her, drawing the earth over those 
she had planted. Queenie’s fingers are so slight 
and delicate that she handled the seeds even better 
than Joseph. She was careful, besides, not to 
waste them as she took them from the package, and 
not to drop them in the wrong places. Joseph had 
several colours of columbines and planted each in 
a furrow by itself. When this was done he placed 
labels at the ends of the furrows telling all about 
the seeds. When transplanting time came they 
would be of great help to him. 
The seeds of the hollyhocks were larger than 
those of the columbines, but even these Queenie 
handled with the utmost care. She helped Joseph 
so skilfully that he had almost forgiven her for 
taking the wren’s egg, when he suddenly remem- 
bered to ask her what she was going to do with it. 
“Nothing,” she said, and threw it on the ground. 
It broke, of course, and inside there was a tiny 
bird, an ugly-looking object. 
“You ought to be ashamed,” exclaimed Joseph. 
But Queenie did not mind at all, as long as he let 
her help him with the seeds. 
Just then Mrs. Keith came to the seed-bed, and, 
when we told her that Queenie had taken the egg 
and then broken it for fun, she was shocked. 
“It is a wren’s egg,” she said. “I have seen 
them many times.” 
“How could you if you did not steal them?” 
Queenie asked. 
