"I've been watching you from the window as long as I could stand it," she
said, "now I've come to beg. I want a garden, too, a flower-garden. Do
you mind if I dig up your front yard?"

He laughed, supposing that she was joking. "Dig all you want to," he
said; "I don't believe you'll do much harm."

"Thanks. I'll try not to. Have I your full permission to try my
hand and see?"

"You certainly have."

"Is there some boy in the village I could hire to do the first heavy
work and the mowing, and pull up the weeds from time to time if they get
ahead of me?"

Howard Gray leaned on his hoe. "You don't need to hire a boy," he said
gravely; "we'll be only too glad to help you all you need."

"Thank you. But, you see, you've got too much to do already, and I can't
add to your burdens, or feel free to ask favors, unless you'll let me do
it in a business way."

Mr. Gray turned his hoe over, and began to hack at the ground. "I see how
you feel," he began, "but--"

"If Thomas could do it evenings, at whatever the rate is around here by
the hour, I should be very glad. If not, please find me a boy."