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!”
