Part 6

“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.