Chapter III: Part 3

Mr. Van Der Lann would say no more about Mrs. Gabriel. As it now was growing dusk, he told Vevi he would take her home in his car.

“When you see the other Brownies, let them know that their wooden shoes will be ready for them by tomorrow night,” he said as he dropped her off at her doorstep. “Also, unless it rains again, there will be tulips for the booth which is to be decorated.”

Now that Mrs. Langley’s flower show was close at hand, the Brownie Scouts dropped all other activities.

Miss Gordon and Miss Mohr had obtained Dutch girl costumes for the girls. A carpenter on the Langley estate helped out by making a booth for the organization to use. It was set up on the lawn not far from the greenhouse where the flowers were to be judged.

On the day before the show, the Brownies all hiked out to Windmill Farm. Their wooden shoes were ready for them, and all were a perfect fit.

Mr. Van Der Lann was too busy picking tulips to talk to the children. He left word with his housekeeper though, that they were to have all the flowers they needed. Hanny helped the Brownies choose the blooms they wanted.

“My, I wish we had a tulip bed,” Vevi remarked. “Miss Mohr, could the Brownie Scouts have a little plot of ground at the library?”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about it, and I know just the place,” the librarian replied. “It will be too late for spring bulbs. However, once the ground is prepared, you can set out other plants.”

“I would rather have tulips,” Vevi said, burying her nose in the crimson bouquet she had gathered. “They are the most beautiful flowers in the world.”

“I would like a bed of nothing but Golden Beauties,” declared Connie.

“How soon can we have our flower bed?” Sunny Davidson asked.

“I will have the plot spaded and raked tomorrow so that the ground is even and workable,” the librarian promised. “If you speak to Mrs. Langley about it, I am sure she will give you plants from her estate.”

“I’d like pansies,” Rosemary said. “And forget-me-nots.”

Sunny thought the bed should be planted with marigolds or late-flowering plants such as asters or chrysanthemums. Connie favored geraniums, while Jane thought an old fashioned herb garden would be the most interesting.

“I just want tulips,” Vevi said again. “The Brownies should have a tulip garden while the festival is going on.”

“I wish we had thought of it earlier,” Miss Gordon replied. “Since we didn’t, I am afraid you will have to forget the tulip bed, Vevi.”

After gathering armfuls of tulips at Windmill Farm, the girls set the stems in tubs of water so they would not wilt.

Just then Mr. Van Der Lann came in from the field. He spoke to everyone and bestowed a very special smile upon Miss Mohr.

“I am driving to the Langley estate now in my truck,” he said. “I will be glad to take the tubs of flowers there for you.”

“May we ride too?” Jane asked.

“Yes, I have plenty of room,” he assured her. “Jump in.”

Mr. Van Der Lann was carrying a load of potted plants to the estate. The children had never seen so many beautiful tulips.

“It will be fun riding with the flowers!” cried Vevi. “I want to sit beside the Golden Beauty.”

The choice tulip, however, was not among the other potted plants in the back of the truck. Vevi was very worried about it until she discovered that the nurseryman was carrying his best tulips in a special box on the front seat.

At the Langley estate dozens of gardeners were hard at work preparing the grounds for the coming affair.

The grass was being cut with big power mowers. All of the hedges had been neatly trimmed. One worker was edging the walks.

Mr. Van Der Lann drove his truck close to the greenhouse. While he was lifting out his flowers, the Brownies went on ahead into the building.

“My, it’s hot in here!” Vevi exclaimed. “It takes my breath away.”

The Brownies spied Mrs. Langley telling workmen how to arrange different flower exhibits. Mr. Piff was there too. The girls saw him start to put up a poster advertising the Rosedale tulip festival.

“No! No! Not in here, of all places!” Mrs. Langley exclaimed. “You will ruin the artistic effect.”

“Where shall I put the poster?” the promoter asked. He seemed rather annoyed by Mrs. Langley’s refusal to let him tack it up in the greenhouse.

“Not anywhere on the estate, please.”

“Don’t you want to advertise the festival?”

“This is a private, non-commercial judging show,” Mrs. Langley explained. “I can’t have the grounds cluttered with cheap signs.”

“Cheap signs!” Mr. Piff exploded. “Well, I like that! Let me tell you, if we don’t advertise, the festival will be a flop. Your money is invested in it too.”

“How well I know,” replied Mrs. Langley coldly. “I deeply regret that I allowed you to talk me into the affair. Your methods--”

The garden club president did not finish what she had intended to say. At that instant she saw the tulips which Mr. Van Der Lann had brought into the greenhouse.

“Oh, such beautiful flowers!” she exclaimed. “I have never seen more lovely blooms. And this golden-hued tulip! What is it, Mr. Van Der Lann?”

“A new variety I am introducing,” the nurseryman replied politely. “I call it the Golden Beauty.”

“It is the showiest flower so far brought in.”

“Thank you, Ma’am, for the praise,” said the nurseryman. “I only wish that you were to be one of the judges.”

While Mr. Van Der Lann was arranging his display, Mr. and Mrs. Mattox drove up in their truck. They too had brought many gorgeous flowers for the judging contest.

“Look at that rosy-red tulip,” Connie directed Vevi’s attention to a potted plant which Mrs. Mattox was showing to the garden club president. “Isn’t it pretty?”

The tulip which Mrs. Mattox had named Candy Stick, resembled peppermint. It stood on a tall, graceful stem, its outer petals a cherry-rose color. Inside petals were a delicate white.

Vevi was deeply worried when she saw the handsome tulip. For a second she thought it was a prettier flower than the one Peter Van Der Lann had developed. Then she decided that the Golden Beauty was the better.

“They’re both very nice,” Connie said. “I hope though, that Peter’s tulip wins the blue ribbon tomorrow.”

After admiring all the lovely flowers, the Brownies helped Miss Mohr and Miss Gordon decorate the outdoor booth. They put up colored crepe paper to cover the rough boards and pasted on the tulips they had made at the library. When the job finally was finished, the Brownies were very proud of their work.

“I just hope a wind doesn’t come along tonight and ruin everything,” Vevi said anxiously. “That would be too mean.”

“Or a rain,” added Connie, glancing up at the slightly overcast sky.

“If it should rain, workmen will move the booth indoors,” Miss Mohr reassured the girls. “I think though, that tomorrow will be fair.”

Her prediction proved true. The day of the flower show dawned warm and clear.

Vevi and Connie were up with the birds. Even before breakfast they were dressed in their Dutch costumes, ready to go to Mrs. Langley’s estate.

By ten o’clock all of the Brownies, including Hanny, had arrived on the grounds. First of all, before taking turns working at the stand, the children visited the greenhouse where the tulips were to be judged.

In addition to the Golden Beauty and the Candy Stripe, other varieties had been displayed by Rosedale growers. There were groupings of Parrot tulips, Darwins and hybrids. One section of the room was devoted to tiny tulips suitable only for rock gardens.

“Do you think the Golden Beauty will win?” Hanny anxiously asked her little friends.

“Of course,” said Vevi loyally.

“Uncle Peter says that Mr. and Mrs. Mattox have a very fine tulip,” Hanny went on. “The judges seem to like it too.”

Now two men and a lady had been selected to award the prize ribbons. The three were experts in judging tulips. They wandered back and forth between the rows of flowers, making notes on paper. Now and then they whispered together. It was hard to tell though, which tulip they thought was the best.

Vevi noticed a tall stranger in a gray suit who had entered the greenhouse. He seemed to be watching the persons who came in, rather than looking at the flowers.

“Who is that man?” Vevi asked, pointing him out to Hanny and Connie.

“No one I ever saw before,” Connie replied carelessly. “Maybe he is one of Mr. Piff’s friends.”

The stranger, however, did not speak to the flower festival promoter when the latter came into the greenhouse. In fact, the man did not talk to anyone.

“Maybe he is a detective,” Vevi decided. “Mrs. Langley may have hired him to watch the prize tulips.”

Convinced that this was so, she went over to ask the garden club president about it.

“No, dear,” Mrs. Langley assured her, “I do not have a detective on the grounds.”

“Then who is that man who keeps watching everyone so closely?” Vevi asked.

Mrs. Langley turned to glance at the tall man in the gray suit. She had never seen him before.

“He probably is from some nearby town,” she told Vevi. “Many persons are here today that I do not know.”

“Maybe he is a friend of Mrs. Gabriel,” Vevi speculated.

She had noticed that the man kept watching both Mrs. Gabriel and the Mattox couple who had come to the show together.

“Who is Mrs. Gabriel?” inquired Mrs. Langley absently. She was not paying very much attention to the conversation for her mind was on other important matters.

“Mrs. Gabriel is very fond of flowers,” Vevi remarked. “I guess she must have one of the largest gardens in Rosedale.”

“Why do you think that, dear?”

Mrs. Langley knew every interesting garden in the entire city and had never heard of one maintained by a Mrs. Gabriel.

“Because Mrs. Gabriel buys so many tulip bulbs.” Vevi replied. “She tried to place a very large order with Peter Van Der Lann. When he wouldn’t take it, she went to the Mattox Nursery with her business.”

Mrs. Langley now was listening more attentively to the little girl. Neither of them noticed that the stranger in gray had moved closer. He too could hear their conversation.

“You say Mr. Van Der Lann turned down a very large bulb order?” the garden club president asked. “Well, that is odd. I wonder why?”

“He didn’t seem to like Mrs. Gabriel.”

“Mrs. Gabriel--” repeated the society woman, mulling over the name. “I’m quite sure I never have heard of her, or her garden. Why would she order tulips at this time of year? Perhaps it was for fall delivery. No doubt that was it, Vevi. Mr. Van Der Lann turned down the business, because this isn’t a good time to plant bulbs. Any that were bought now would have to be held until Fall.”

Mrs. Langley was called away just then and so said no more about Mrs. Gabriel. However, the man in gray moved over to where Vevi stood.

“Hello, little girl,” he greeted her. And in a friendly voice, he asked: “Which lady is Mrs. Gabriel? Is she the one in the darkblue dress?”

“Oh, no, that is Mrs. Howard,” Vevi answered. “Mrs. Gabriel is over by the door, talking to Peter Van Der Lann.”

“The owner of Windmill Farm?”

Vevi merely nodded and did not answer. She had begun to wonder why the man asked so many curious questions.

“Say, you must be a detective,” she declared, after studying him a moment.

The man only smiled. He started to ask Vevi another question, but before he could do so, Mrs. Langley clapped her hands to attract everyone’s attention.

The room became very quiet.

“The judges are ready to award the prize ribbons,” announced the garden club president. “Clear the aisles, please. In a moment now, we will know which tulip is considered the best in the show.”

_Chapter 12_

A FLOWER SHOW

An expectant hush fell upon the crowd as Mrs. Langley made her announcement.

Everyone watched the three judges, wondering which tulip they would choose for the first prize award.

“Oh, they’re stopping beside the candy stripe tulip!” Vevi whispered nervously to Connie. “That is the flower they are going to choose.”

Connie thought so too and so did Hanny who stood beside the two Brownies. Her tense face puckered up and she looked as if she were about to burst into tears.

“If Uncle Peter’s tulip doesn’t win, I’ll have to go back to the orphanage in Holland,” she whispered. “I know it!”

The judges were now pinning a ribbon on the table where the candy stripe tulip was displayed.

“The Mattox flower wins,” Hanny said with a little moan. “Oh, I was afraid of it. The flower is very beautiful.”

“But not half as nice as the Golden Beauty,” Vevi declared loyally. “I don’t see how the judges could make such a mistake.”

“They haven’t!” cried Connie. “Just look at the color of the ribbon, you dopes!”

Hanny and Vevi laughed aloud, so great was their relief. True, the judges had pinned a ribbon on the Mattox’ table. But it was not a blue ribbon. Instead, it was red and bore printing which said “Second Prize.”

“The first prize hasn’t been awarded yet,” Hanny said, breathing naturally again. “Uncle Peter still has a chance.”

Again the judges paused, this time beside the table on which stood the Golden Beauty. They whispered together. Then one of the men pinned the blue ribbon on Peter Van Der Lann’s choice flower.

“He’s won first prize!” shouted Vevi. “Hurrah!”

Hanny couldn’t say a word. Tears streamed down her cheeks. This time, however, they were tears of happiness.

Everyone crowded about the nurseryman, offering congratulations. At once, flower lovers began asking him how they could obtain bulbs of the Golden Beauty for fall planting.

Mr. Piff pushed through the throng to shake Peter’s hand.

“Congratulations!” he boomed. “Mr. Van Der Lann, you and I will have to make a deal. I understand you have a good stock of bulbs on hand. Now that you’ve won first prize, I can arrange to sell them for you at a fancy price. My commission will be very small--”

“You will receive no commission from me,” the nurseryman broke in. He made it plain that he wanted nothing whatsoever to do with the promoter. “I have already arranged to sell my entire stock to a large seed house in the East. Now that I have won the blue ribbon, the bulbs will command a good price.”

Hanny was so happy over her uncle’s good fortune that she scarcely could contain her joy. She went skipping over the grounds, telling everyone about the Golden Beauty.

“Now you know why I called the locked room our treasure house!” she said to Vevi. “All those fine bulbs that are stored there will be worth their weight in gold.”

“My, I wish the Brownies had a bed of Golden Beauty tulips,” remarked Rosemary Fritche, who had listened to the talk.

“So do I,” added Vevi wistfully.

“I will give you some of the bulbs,” Hanny offered.

“Not of the Golden Beauty?” Rosemary asked in amazement.

Hanny nodded. “I will give you some of the culls,” she promised. “They are bulbs that are too small to sell. Each one will bear a flower, but it will not be large.”

“That wouldn’t matter,” Vevi said. “When may we have the bulbs?”

“Come to Windmill Farm when we leave here and I will give you a bag of them,” Hanny offered.

Throughout most of the day, the Brownie Scouts remained at the Langley estate. They took turns working at the flower stand. Tussie-mussie bouquets sold very well at twenty-five cents each. The girls also disposed of many tulips.

When they sold out, Mr. Van Der Lann and Hanny drove to Windmill Farm in the truck to bring more flowers.

“My, but the Brownies have made a lot of money,” Jane Tuttle remarked, jingling the coins in the cash box. “Shall we count it?”

“Let’s,” agreed Vevi. “You start on the nickels and pennies. I will take the dimes and quarters.”

The large coins were easy to count. Vevi reported very quickly that they amounted to ten dollars and forty cents.

Jane had to count the pennies and nickels twice. She kept getting mixed up.

“There are two dollars and a quarter in nickels,” she finally decided. “I think the pennies add up to a dollar and three cents.”

“That makes thirteen dollars!” exclaimed Vevi. “The Brownies are rich!”

“Thirteen dollars and sixty-eight cents,” corrected Connie who was better at arithmetic than her little friend.

Miss Gordon told the children she would take charge of the money for them. Sunny Davidson asked what the organization would do with the fund.

“Will we have a nice party?” she questioned.

“We could,” Miss Gordon agreed. “I wonder though, if the girls wouldn’t prefer to do something really worthwhile. Miss Mohr has a suggestion.”

The librarian’s proposal was that the Brownie Scout troop use some of its money to send a CARE package of children’s books to a foreign country.

“Any country?” asked Vevi.

“Yes, the girls may make their choice.”

“Italy,” cried Jane before any of the other Brownies could speak. She named that particular country just to tease Vevi.

“No, Holland!” insisted Vevi. “That’s where I want the package to go!”

Usually, the other Brownies had ideas that were very different from hers. This time, however, everyone except Jane agreed with her. Because of Hanny, all the troop members wanted the book package to be sent to Holland.

“I’ll vote for Holland too,” declared Jane, changing her vote.

“That matter is settled then,” Miss Mohr said, well pleased by the decision. “I’ll take care of the matter.”

The Brownies had worked hard at their stand and now were tired and ready to go home. Everyone said the flower show had been a great success. Hundreds of persons had visited the estate, admiring the beautiful plantings.

Mr. Piff and the Mattox couple were the only ones who did not seem pleased.

“This flower show was a mistake,” the promoter complained. “The affair has attracted so many persons that it may hurt attendance at the big festival later this week.”

“The festival will be an anti-climax,” agreed Mr. Mattox. “I wish you hadn’t talked me into contributing so much money.”

“You made us believe that our tulip would win the prize and that we would make a great deal from the sale of bulbs,” Mrs. Mattox accused the promoter. “Now Peter Van Der Lann wins the blue ribbon and he had nothing to do with the festival! It is unfair!”

“Was it my fault the judges didn’t choose your tulip?” Mr. Piff growled. “Let me tell you I’ve had my troubles! Everyone is complaining--jumping on me--saying I haven’t kept my promises.”

“Maybe you’d like to get out of the whole mess?” suggested Mr. Mattox.

“I sure would! I’m fed up with Rosedale and this stupid festival.”

“You’re fed up! You’re starting to make excuses because you are afraid the thing will be a flop. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. Piff. You promised that if we put in five thousand dollars, we’d get it back in bulb sales. You’d better make good!”

“Oh, you make me tired,” Mr. Piff retorted.

He walked angrily off and the Brownies did not hear any more. A little later though, they saw the president of the Rosedale Savings Bank talking soberly to the promoter.

“Mr. Piff is in trouble with everyone,” Miss Gordon told the Brownies. “He has obtained heavy contributions from Rosedale businessmen and flower growers. However, he failed with his publicity, and now the businessmen are afraid they will lose nearly everything they put into the affair.”

Visitors began to leave the Langley grounds. Connie’s mother presently drove all the Brownies except Vevi, to their homes. Vevi, who wanted to obtain the bag of Golden Beauty culls, said she would wait until Mr. Van Der Lann and Hanny were ready to leave.

The nurseryman loaded his truck with plants and drove to Windmill Farm, taking both Hanny and Vevi with him.

“I will have to make one more trip,” he told them after he had unloaded. “Then I will take you home, Vevi.”

The two girls decided to wait at the farm until Mr. Van Der Lann returned. He promised he would be back within a half hour at the latest.

“Look after everything, Hanny,” he instructed.

After Mr. Van Der Lann had gone with the truck, Hanny and Vevi had a snack of cheese and crackers. Then they decided to get the bag of tulip culls.

“Are you sure your uncle will not mind?” Vevi asked.

“Oh, he will want you to have them, Vevi. The bulbs are too small to be sold. He is giving Miss Mohr some Golden Beauty tulips too. Only he will let her have choice stock.”

“I guess that is because he likes her better than anyone else,” Vevi said with a giggle.

She knew that Mr. Van Der Lann and the pretty librarian twice had been seen together at the movies. Everyone in Rosedale, it seemed, had talked about it, saying they made a nice couple.

“It is getting late,” Vevi said, deciding not to tease her little friend about Miss Mohr. “I should be starting home.”

“I will fetch the bulbs,” Hanny offered. “They are in the barn.”

Vevi went with her to the building. While they were inside, Hanny tossed several ears of corn into the cow’s manger.

After that she sorted through several bags of bulbs until she found the one for which she searched.

“When you plant these, use a little fertilizer with them,” she instructed. “That will make them grow faster. And press the bulbs down firmly, so there will be no air pockets.”

Vevi picked up the bag and started to leave the barn. In the open doorway she paused and uttered an exclamation of surprise.

“You have a visitor, Hanny,” she said.

“A customer?” inquired Hanny. “Not the Mattox couple again!”

She went quickly to the door. Vevi pointed toward the locked house where the choice tulip bulbs were stored.

A man stood at the door, apparently tampering with the padlock. His back was toward the barn, so the children could not immediately see who he was.

As they watched, he moved slightly. Then they obtained a plain view of his face.

“Why, it is that same man in gray who attended the flower show at Mrs. Langley’s!” Vevi exclaimed. “What is he doing here? Why is he trying to break into the little house?”

_Chapter 13_

A BAG OF TULIPS

As the two girls watched, the man in gray merely shook the padlock, but did not try to smash it open.

Hanny and Vevi hurried over to the little house.

“Why are you trying to break in?” Hanny demanded severely of the stranger.

“Just checking,” he replied. He smiled at her in a friendly way, not acting in the least as if he had been caught trying to steal or do anything dishonest. “Is your uncle at home, Hanny?”

“No, he isn’t,” Hanny answered. She was astonished that the man knew her first name.

“What are you doing here anyhow?” questioned Vevi alertly. “You’re not a detective, are you?”

Once a long while before, the little girl had been carried away with a circus and during the exciting trip had met a detective. The manner of this quiet stranger reminded her somewhat of the other investigator.

“My name is Frederick Evans,” the man replied. “I’m with the FBI.”

“The FBI!” gasped Vevi, deeply impressed. “Is that the secret service?”

“FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m doing a little investigating.”

Mr. Evans then began to ask casual questions about Hanny’s uncle and the various customers who came to his farm. He inquired as to recent shipments of tulip bulbs from Holland and whether or not Mr. Van Der Lann had any helpers.

“Only me,” Hanny replied to the last question. “We did have a hired man earlier this spring. But now he is working for Mr. and Mrs. Mattox.”

Mr. Evans next asked if Hanny’s uncle had a customer by the name of Mrs. Gabriel.

“Oh, no!” the little girl returned with emphasis. “She used to come here, but Uncle Peter told her he did not want her business.”

“Did he tell you why?”

Hanny shook her head. She had been made very uneasy by so many questions about her uncle.

“I’ll drop around later when Mr. Van Der Lann is at home,” the FBI man said to reassure her. “He may be able to help me.”

Very shortly the stranger left without explaining why he had come to Windmill Farm or what he was investigating. Hanny, however, was very worried.

“FBI men always arrest people, don’t they?” she remarked nervously to Vevi. “Why would he come here?”

“Maybe he thinks your uncle has done something wrong.”

“Not Uncle Peter,” declared Hanny. “No, it is about Mrs. Gabriel, I think. Oh, dear, I wish my uncle were here. I’m worried.”

By this time it was quite late. Mr. Van Der Lann had been gone much longer than half an hour. Vevi knew she would have to start home at once if she were to be on time for supper.

“I must go right away,” she said. “I will see you tomorrow, Hanny. Thanks a lot for the bag of bulbs.”

“Uncle Peter will take you home if you wait.”

“I had better go now,” Vevi decided. “My Mother will be expecting me.”

Hanny walked with her to the gate. The bus did not run very often, so Vevi set off afoot.

At first the bag of tulip bulbs did not seem very heavy. But as she trudged on over the rolling hills, it seemed to take on added weight. Several times she had to stop and set it down on the pavement a moment to rest her arm.

“My I wish someone would offer me a ride,” she thought wearily.

Two cars sped past. The drivers did not appear to notice the tired little girl.

Presently, another automobile rolled over a hill, coming from the direction of the Mattox Farm. Vevi glanced hopefully over her shoulder.

Noticing that the driver of the car was Mrs. Gabriel she was certain she would not be offered a ride.

She was surprised, therefore, when the big powerfully-built automobile coasted to a standstill beside her.

“Hello, little girl,” said Mrs. Gabriel in a very friendly voice. “May I give you a lift to Rosedale?”

Now Vevi did not like Mrs. Gabriel. She wanted to turn down the ride, but she was dreadfully tired.

“Thank you,” she accepted politely, “This bag is very heavy.”

“Tulip bulbs?” asked Mrs. Gabriel, opening the car door.

“Just some culls that Hanny gave me.”

As Vevi slid into the car, she noticed that canvas bags, very similar to the one she carried, were piled on the floor.

“I see you bought some tulip bulbs yourself,” she remarked. “Or were they given to you?”

“I bought them,” Mrs. Gabriel answered shortly. “They are special stock. The shipment I ordered direct from Holland came today.”

“Are they nicer bulbs than Mr. Van Der Lann’s Golden Beauty?”

“Mr. Van Der Lann!” replied Mrs. Gabriel. “His tulips are greatly over-rated. Even if he did win a blue ribbon, I prefer to do business with Mr. and Mrs. Mattox.”

Now Vevi thought that Mrs. Gabriel could not possibly have bought bulbs that would produce flowers nicer than the Golden Beauty. However, she was too polite to say so.

She dropped her bag of culls down on the floor among the other sacks. Then, curious to see if the Mattox bulbs were larger than the culls Hanny had given her, she started to open one of Mrs. Gabriel’s bags.

“Don’t do that,” the woman reprimanded her sharply.

“I’m sorry,” Vevi apologized, drawing back her hand.

“I can’t have tulip bulbs rolling around loose on the car floor,” Mrs. Gabriel added.

Vevi was careful not to touch the bags after that. Nevertheless, she thought that Mrs. Gabriel was a very disagreeable woman.

For the first few minutes of the ride, the woman scarcely spoke. Then, in a much more friendly manner, she began to question Vevi about where she had been after leaving the flower show.

“Only to Hanny’s place,” the little girl replied.

“I saw a car at the gate when I drove by earlier this afternoon,” Mrs. Gabriel remarked. “It was an automobile I never had noticed there before.”

“It must have belonged to the stranger,” answered Vevi carelessly.

“Stranger?”

“The same man who was at Mrs. Langley’s flower show. He’s here checking up on folks.”

“Checking up on whom?”

Vevi shrugged and did not answer. She remembered that Hanny had said she thought the FBI man might be investigating Mrs. Gabriel. But what could the woman have done wrong?

Riding along so comfortably in the big, powerful car, Vevi found herself liking Mrs. Gabriel a tiny bit. The next moment, though, the feeling was gone. Mrs. Gabriel spoke very harshly.

“A Federal investigator, I’ll warrant! The snoop!”

At the outskirts of Rosedale, Mrs. Gabriel pulled up at the curb.

“You will have to get out here,” she said shortly. “I can’t take you any farther.”

Vevi was surprised for she had expected that Mrs. Gabriel would carry her at least to within a few blocks of her home. She began to suspect that the woman had picked her up only so that she might ask questions.

“Thank you for bringing me this far,” Vevi nevertheless said politely. “I can walk the rest of the way. It is only six or eight blocks.”

Mrs. Gabriel swung open the car door, impatiently waiting for the little girl to alight.

“Oh, my tulip bulbs!” Vevi exclaimed, nearly forgetting them.

She picked up the bag from the floor, and started to thank Mrs. Gabriel again for the ride.

Before she could do so, the woman drove rapidly away.

Vevi watched the car until it was out of sight. As far as she could see, Mrs. Gabriel did not turn off the main highway.

“She could have taken me farther, but she didn’t want to,” Vevi thought resentfully. “She just wanted to get rid of me.”

Picking up the bag of tulip bulbs, the little girl trudged slowly on toward home. The sack seemed heavier than ever now.

Before she had gone half a block, it seemed to her that her arm would break.

Vevi paused beside a fence to rest. She noticed that the canvas bag had the numerals 67543 stamped on the canvas. Also in black letters were printed the name of a city in Holland.

“That’s funny,” reflected Vevi. “I thought Hanny gave me an old bag without any markings on it. I guess I didn’t notice very well.”

Picking up the bag once more, she started on. Every few yards she had to shift it to the other hand. Even so, she began to wish she never had tried to carry the bulbs home.

“I should have waited for Mr. Van Der Lann,” she thought. “I never knew culls could be so heavy.”

Now the joke actually was on Vevi. Though she did not suspect it, the bag of bulbs Hanny had given her was at this moment being carried away in Mrs. Gabriel’s car.

Unknowingly, the little girl had picked up another bag in exchange. The mistake was certain to cause a great deal of trouble for Mrs. Gabriel, but of this, Vevi was blissfully unaware.

_Chapter 14_

MR. PIFF’S TROUBLES

“Mother, how can the Brownie Scouts have a tulip bed--one that will grow fast?”

Vevi asked the question at the breakfast table. It was the morning after Mrs. Langley’s flower show and she still felt rather tired.

“A tulip bed?” repeated Vevi’s mother absently. She was reading the paper and not paying too much attention to the conversation. “I am afraid it is too late for this year, dear.”

“Hanny gave me a bag of bulbs yesterday, Mother.”

“Why, that’s fine,” approved Mrs. McGuire. “You can wrap them in paper and keep them in a cool place until fall.”

“But I want tulips right away,” Vevi insisted. “How can I make them grow fast?”

“I’m afraid you can’t, dear. Nurserymen sometimes ‘force’ plants to bring them to flower earlier or out of season. That however, takes special skill and exact temperatures. Fertilizer, of course, helps to make plants develop fast.”

“I’d like to force my bulbs,” Vevi announced. “The Brownies have such a nice bed at the library now. But so far it is only bare ground.”

“It is too late to plant tulip bulbs this spring,” said Mrs. McGuire. “The Brownies, I am afraid, will have to be satisfied with late flowering plants.”

The information disappointed Vevi. After seeing so many beautiful tulips at Windmill Farm, she felt she never would be happy to have the Brownie bed devoted to any other flower. Besides, she was eager to discover if the Golden Beauty culls really would bloom.

“Today is the first day of the flower festival,” Mrs. McGuire remarked. “From all I hear, the affair will not be a success.”

“I think I will take a book to the library,” Vevi announced. She knew it would give her an excuse to go down town to see what was happening.

“Don’t stay long, dear,” Mrs. McGuire advised.

Vevi felt very light hearted as she tripped along the street. Colored bunting decorated the lamp posts and hung from overhead wires on Main Street.

As Vevi reached the library, a parade went by. Hearing the band music, she paused to watch. The beat and rumble of the drum made her blood race.

Not many people were watching the parade, and it did not last long. There were a few floats and several automobiles carrying flags. Almost before Vevi knew it, the procession had ended.

“I don’t call that much of a parade,” said a voice directly behind Vevi.

She whirled around to see Connie and Jane standing behind her. It was Jane who had spoken. Both girls wore their Brownie uniforms.

“My, you startled me!” Vevi laughed. “What brought you girls downtown?”

“The flower festival,” explained Connie. “Only so far it doesn’t amount to anything.”

“Hardly anyone is attending,” declared Jane. “My father says Mr. Piff has made a mess of the show. Everyone is dissatisfied.”

The girls went into the library with Vevi who returned her books. They stopped to chat with Miss Mohr a moment, noticing a bouquet of beautiful scarlet tulips on her desk.

“I can guess where those came from!” laughed Connie. “Windmill Farm!”

“That is right,” agreed the librarian. “Peter brought them over himself early this morning.”

The Brownie Scouts noticed that Miss Mohr used the name “Peter” instead of Mr. Van Der Lann. Jane winked at Vevi who understood what she meant. By this time all the Brownies knew that Miss Mohr and Mr. Van Der Lann were the best of friends. In fact, the couple had been seen together at several social gatherings.

“Oh, by the way, girls,” said Miss Mohr. “The Brownie garden has been spaded and raked. It is ready now for the planting of seeds.”

“Tulips?” inquired Vevi hopefully. “Hanny gave me a bagful of bulbs. I have them at home.”

“Tulips would be nice,” replied Miss Mohr. She was busy checking out a book and spoke absently. “When the right time comes to plant--”

“Most of the bulbs in my bag are Golden Beauties,” Vevi told Jane and Connie. “When they bloom, they will be the best tulips in Rosedale!”

Miss Mohr had finished waiting on another child who had asked for a special book on frogs. Returning to the Brownies she reported that she had a special message for Vevi.

“Mrs. Gabriel is looking for you,” the librarian said. “She came here not an hour ago, asking where you lived. She said it was most important that she find you right away.”

The message astonished Vevi. She could not guess why Mrs. Gabriel would want to see her.

“Where does Mrs. Gabriel live?” she asked the librarian. “I could go to her house if it is important.”

Miss Mohr said she did not have the woman’s address. “It’s odd,” she added, “but no one in Rosedale seems to know where she lives, or for that matter, very much about her.”

“Why does she want to see me, Miss Mohr?”

“She didn’t say, Vevi. However, she seemed very disturbed about something.”

“You’ve been in mischief again, I’ll bet!” teased Jane, pointing an accusing finger at Vevi.

“I have not! She gave me a ride part way home from Windmill Farm yesterday. I was nice as pie to her.”

Vevi was a little worried to know that Mrs. Gabriel was looking for her. She could not think of anything she had done or said that would cause the woman to seek her.

Leaving the library, the three girls went out to look at the flower bed.

The plot was circular, nicely rounded in the center. It had been deeply spaded and the soil raked until it was nearly as fine as sand grains.

“I’ll bet my tulips would grow fast here!” Vevi said. “If I plant them right away, maybe they will bloom by summer.”

“Dope!” chided Jane. “Tulips only bloom in the Spring.”

“Maybe it depends on when you plant them,” Vevi argued. “Folks plant bulbs in the fall for Spring blooms. So if you plant in the Spring, why wouldn’t the flowers come in summer?”

“And if you plant in the summer, I suppose the tulips would bloom in the winter!” Connie joked. “Oh, Vevi!”

“You heard Miss Mohr say I could plant tulips.”

“She did, that’s true,” Connie admitted.

“Those Golden Beauty culls Hanny gave me are something special, don’t forget,” Vevi argued. “Miss Mohr must know all about them. That’s probably why she said I could plant them now. Their growing season must be shorter than for other tulips.”

“She wasn’t paying much attention to what you said,” Jane recalled doubtfully. “I don’t think she really heard--”

“Oh, yes, she did,” Vevi cut in. “Miss Mohr said I could plant tulips, and she meant it too.”

“I think pansies would be nicer,” Jane argued. “I saw a pretty basket of them a few minutes ago on my way to the library.”

“No pansies,” Vevi said emphatically. “That would cost money. I have the tulip bulbs and they didn’t cost a penny.”

Jane and Connie reluctantly abandoned the argument. Having won her point, Vevi now was eager to plant the bulbs immediately.

“You’ll need tools,” Jane pointed out “Do you have a trowel?”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, a thing you dig with. We have one at home. Then you ought to have fertilizer to put with each bulb. I know because I’ve watched my father plant things lots of times.”

“Let’s go to your house and get the stuff we’ll need,” proposed Vevi.

Jane protested that she had come down town to see the flower festival. She was not ready as yet to return home.

“Let’s look at the flowers quick then,” Vevi urged. “Most of the exhibits are at the auditorium.”

The girls walked to the centrally located public building. At the door they discovered that tickets were required in order to get inside.

“I don’t have fifty cents,” Vevi announced. “Even if I did I wouldn’t spend it to see flowers growing in pots. I would rather look at them free on Windmill Farm.”

“Anyway, hardly anyone is in the auditorium,” Connie observed, peering through the open door.

The girls caught a glimpse of a room filled with all types of spring flowers. In the center of the hall, an artificial fountain splashed into a shallow tank where goldfish swam.

“That fountain isn’t nearly as nice as the one on Mrs. Langley’s estate,” Jane said.

“There aren’t many flowers either,” added Connie. “See all the blank spaces along the wall where there should be exhibits.”

As the three were peering in, Mr. Piff came along.

“Children you are blocking the door,” he scolded. “Stand aside so that folks can get into the auditorium.”

“There aren’t any folks trying to get in,” Jane replied. “I guess you aren’t selling many tickets.”

Mr. Piff scowled, not liking the little girl’s observation. Then he smiled wryly and admitted that she was right.

“Do you girls want to go inside?” he inquired. “Pass right on in.”

“Free?” Vevi asked quickly.

“Go ahead,” Mr. Piff directed. “What’s the difference? This show is a flop and everyone knows it.”

“Maybe more people will come tomorrow,” Connie said kindly.

“Tomorrow will be worse than today,” Mr. Piff rejoined. “I only hope I won’t be here to hear the squawks of the business men when they find out how deep in the hole we’re going to be.”

“You’re not going away?” Connie asked quickly.

“No, no, certainly not.” Mr. Piff laughed, but in a hollow sort of way.

Following the girls into the auditorium, he voiced a steady stream of complaints.

“This show would have been a success if it hadn’t been for Peter Van Der Lann. That stubborn Dutchman hung the sign on me by refusing to cooperate. Then some of the other growers wouldn’t come into the scheme. Mrs. Langley put in some money, quite a nice chunk, but a few days ago, she clamped down the lid. Wouldn’t give me another penny. What was worse, her garden show drew all the customers away from this one.”

The Brownies listened to Mr. Piff without saying much in return. They went over to the fountain to watch the goldfish swim in the basin.

“Some of the fish are dead,” Vevi said, noticing the ones that floated on top of the water.

“Your flowers are wilting too,” declared Jane. “It is too warm for them in here.”

As the girls wandered about, looking at the potted tulips, lilies and other flowers, Mr. Piff talked to workmen. Connie heard the men ask him about their pay.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it when the show ends,” he told them. “Not before.”

Refrigerators, stoves and dish washers were being demonstrated in the hall. The Brownies thought that having such items on sale ruined the garden effect.

After awhile, as they were watching a television set, Mr. Piff rejoined the girls.

“As I was saying,” he remarked, “this show would have been a success if it hadn’t been for Peter Van Der Lann. That tightwad didn’t put a cent into the affair, and he’s profited more than any grower in Rosedale.”

“You mean because his tulip won the blue ribbon?” Vevi questioned. She did not like the way Mr. Piff was talking about Hanny’s uncle.

“Sure,” the promoter replied. “He won the ribbon, and now folks don’t want to buy any of the bulbs on sale here. They only want stock from Van Der Lann. He’ll make a fortune--that is, if he has any bulbs to sell.”

“Oh, he has!” cried Vevi. “Hanny showed them to me. He has a little room with a padlock on the door. All his Golden Beauty bulbs are kept there.”

“Oh, yes, I noticed that little house when I was out at Windmill Farm,” Mr. Piff said thoughtfully. “So that’s where he keeps his choice bulbs? I know a grower who would pay plenty to get them. Mr. Van Der Lann, though, won’t do business with me.”

The promoter asked the girls a few more questions about Mr. Van Der Lann’s bulbs. Then, as he started to turn away, he said to Vevi:

“By the way, did Mrs. Gabriel see you?”

“Not today,” answered Vevi. “I have been looking for her too.”

“She was here not an hour ago. For that matter, she came especially to find you.”

Vevi asked Mr. Piff if he knew why the woman wanted to see her.

“I’ve no idea,” the promoter replied. “She was very angry though. Her exact words were these: that little imp had better return my property at once, or there will be trouble!”

_Chapter 15_

THE BROWNIE GARDEN

Vevi’s first thought was that Mr. Piff was joking about Mrs. Gabriel.

“She didn’t really say that about me!” the little girl protested.

“Oh, yes, she did,” Mr. Piff corrected.

“But I don’t have any of her property.”

“Then you should see her and tell her so,” the promoter declared. “If you don’t, she may turn you over to the police.”

“She couldn’t do that,” Vevi gasped. “She must have me mixed up with some other person.”

The Brownies now had lost all interest in the flower show. Vevi wanted to find Mrs. Gabriel at once to try to clear up the misunderstanding.

From one booth to another the girls went, asking if anyone had seen Mrs. Gabriel. Finally they learned that she had left the building more than a half hour earlier. It seemed useless to try to seek her further.

“I am not going to worry about her,” Vevi decided. “I will let her find me. I am going home to get my tulip bulbs. Let’s plant them right away.”

“Why not wait until the next Brownie Scout meeting?” proposed Connie. “Then all the girls can help.”

Vevi opposed any delay. “No, we must plant them right away,” she insisted. “Every day counts if they are to bloom this summer.”

Leaving the auditorium, the girls started for Jane’s home to collect digging tools and fertilizer.

They were only three blocks from the Tuttle home when they spied a group of children coming toward them.

“What are they carrying?” Connie speculated.

Each child in the group of six held a double handful of plump, round objects.

“Onions,” declared Jane.

“Tulip bulbs,” corrected Vevi. By this time the children were quite close.

The youngsters would have dashed on past with their plunder, had not Jane stopped them.

“Say, where’d you get those?” she demanded.

The children halted, proudly showing the bulbs.

“We found ’em,” one of the older boys said.

“Why, those look just like the Golden Beauty culls that Hanny gave me,” Vevi commented as she gazed at the fistful of bulbs.

“I’ve got some bigger ones,” announced another child in the group. He opened his hands to show the girls several large, plump bulbs.

“They do look like onions,” declared Connie. “In Holland when times were hard, the people ate bulbs for food. Miss Mohr told me so.”

Vevi thought that the bulbs, except for a few, looked like extremely good ones.

“Where did you find them?” she asked.

One of the boys indicated the direction from which he and the others had come. “Down the street a ways,” he said. “They were lying in a culvert.”

“Thrown away?” Vevi asked in amazement.

“Sure. Someone dumped a lot of ’em there.”

“Are there any more?” Jane asked eagerly.

“Scads of ’em.”

“Let’s get some,” Jane proposed to her friends. “Come on, before they’re all gone.”

Forgetting their plan to plant Vevi’s tulips, the three girls raced down the street.

A block away, at the street corner, they saw the open culvert. Just as the boys had said, there lay hundreds of tulips, dumped on the street.

“Well, did you ever!” exclaimed Jane, amazed by the sight. “Who would throw away valuable tulips?”

“And so many of them!” gasped Connie. “Tulip bulbs are expensive. Why, there must be twenty or thirty dollars worth here at least!”

“Let’s pick them all up,” proposed Jane excitedly. “The ones we don’t want for our own gardens, we can sell!”

A few of the bulbs had broken open or had been crushed. Many were in perfect condition. The girls filled their skirts, not stopping until they had gathered every bulb.

“We can take them to my house,” Jane said. “My, but we have a lot of ’em. Enough for a wonderful garden.”

Vevi noticed a piece of canvas lying in the gutter.

Putting down her skirtful of bulbs for a moment, she picked it up.

“Why, this is a bag,” she said in astonishment. “It must have held some of the tulips.”

“Someone dumped them here,” Jane agreed. “I can’t understand why, either. They look like perfectly good bulbs to me.”

Vevi examined the canvas bag carefully. She noticed that it bore numbers and was stamped “Holland.”

“That means these are imported bulbs,” she declared. “This empty bag looks just like the one I have at home. The number is different though.”

“You don’t think Hanny or her uncle dumped these tulips here?” Connie asked.

“I’m sure they didn’t,” Vevi replied. “Maybe it was Mrs. Gabriel.”

“Why should she do such a thing?” demanded Jane.

“It seems silly,” Vevi agreed soberly. “All the same, this bag looks like some she had in her car. She told me her big Holland order had just been delivered.”

“It couldn’t have been Mrs. Gabriel,” Jane argued. “If she had just bought the bulbs, she certainly wouldn’t throw them away.”

“Maybe they weren’t good enough for her garden,” Vevi speculated. “She’s real fussy, I guess.”

The girls stuffed as many bulbs as they could into the empty bag. The remainder they carried in their hands to Jane’s home.

“What will we do with so many tulips?” Connie asked. “Shall we use them for the Brownie Scout garden at the library?”

“Oh, no,” Vevi said in quick protest. “I want to plant my Golden Beauties there.”

“But those bulbs are only culls,” Jane argued. “Most of these are nice big fat ones.”

“Maybe size doesn’t count,” Vevi replied. “They couldn’t have been much good, or they wouldn’t have been thrown away.”

“That’s so,” agreed Connie, siding with her friend. “Maybe the bulbs are dead and won’t grow. Besides, Hanny might not like it if we don’t use her bulbs.”

“Okay,” Jane consented. “I’ll get the digging tools. We can leave these bulbs in our garage until we decide where to plant them.”

An empty shelf along one side of the garage provided a place for the bulbs. The girls lined them up in neat rows.

“They do look just like onions!” Jane laughed. “I hope Mother doesn’t use them for a stew.”

“All of the bulbs are the same size, large and plump,” Connie noticed. “That is, all but about twenty or so. Vevi, you don’t suppose--”

She was intending to ask Vevi if by any chance she might have mixed up one of the bags with Hanny’s culls. Before she could do so, however, Jane interrupted:

“If we’re going to plant tulips, let’s get at it!” she urged. “It’s nearly lunch time now.”

Jane asked permission of her mother to go to Vevi’s house. Carrying the digging tools, the girls reached the McGuire home exactly at noon.

Mrs. McGuire was preparing lunch as the three Brownies stomped into the kitchen.

“Oh, here you are, Vevi,” her mother said. “I’ve telephoned everywhere, trying to find you.”

“For lunch?” the little girl asked. “I’m terribly hungry. And so are Connie and Jane. Please, may they stay?”

“Of course,” agreed Mrs. McGuire. “But it wasn’t because of lunch that I called you. While you were gone we had a visitor.”

“Not the minister?” asked Vevi.

“No, dear, it was a woman named Mrs. Gabriel.”

Hearing the name again, Vevi had a queer feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t imagine what she had done wrong. It must have been something very dreadful, though, or the woman wouldn’t keep trying to find her.

“What did she want, Mother?” Vevi asked in a faint voice.

“She said you had taken something from her car. A bag of valuable tulip bulbs.”

_Chapter 16_

MRS. GABRIEL’S ACCUSATION

Vevi became very indignant when she heard the purpose of Mrs. Gabriel’s call.

“Why, how could she accuse me of such a thing?” she asked, deeply hurt. “I never took anything in my life.”

“I told Mrs. Gabriel that,” declared Mrs. McGuire. “She was quite demanding and rude. You did ride in her car, Vevi?”

“Yes, Mother. She offered me a lift from Windmill Farm. I think she asked me a million questions. Then she made me get out and walk part of the way.”

“You didn’t take anything from her car?”

“Of course not. Only the bag of tulip bulbs Hanny gave me.”

“Could you have mixed the bags?”

“I don’t think I did,” Vevi said. “I will show you the bulbs.”

For safe keeping, the little girl had stored the bag in the basement. Quickly she brought it upstairs.

Mrs. McGuire untied the strings and peered into the bag.

“Tulip bulbs all look alike to me,” she said. “If you are sure these are yours, Vevi--”

“Oh, I am, Mother!”

“Then forget Mrs. Gabriel,” advised Mrs. McGuire. “To tell you the truth, her accusation annoyed me. I offered to pay her for any bulbs she thought she had lost, but that did not satisfy her. Nor would she give me her address so that I could call her after talking to you, Vevi. I am afraid she is a trouble maker.”