62 MADGE’S MISTAKE.

when he startles me by suddenly stopping,
and, throwing open the door, he says:

“Step in, please, Miss, and take a look
round,”

I narrowly escape falling on his back, as
I have been dreaming on behind him fully
taken up for the time with the subject of the
trousers; but I pull myself up in time, and,
stepping past him, see a splendid collection
of roses of every description before me. I
proceed to explain that I want red and tea
roses, and that I must have four of one
and three of the other; but I find to my
horror that I have utterly forgotten whether
it was three tea and four red, or vice versa.

I say it over a few times, first one way
and then the other, to see which sounds best,
and finally decide that three red and four tea
are the correct numbers.

Accordingly I set to work, with Mr. Mul-
lins’ assistance, and select two beauties.

“Ts it for the show you're wanting them,
Miss?” he says, as he takes the pots and
stands them on the gravel outside.