Fanny told him what her object had been, and offered to help him. She had got several pots with nice plants, which there was still time to put in, and a number of seeds of autumn flowers. These she promised to give to him as soon as the ground was fit for their reception. She began digging away in her usual energetic manner, and he for a time tried to imitate her, but he soon grew tired. "There, you can dig away by yourself," he said, "just as the natives do in India in the plantations, and I will look on like an owner, and watch that you do your work properly," and he leant back with his arms folded, as he thought, in a very dignified way. Fanny dug on for some time. At last she stopped and said, laughing-- "Now it is your turn to work, and mine to watch you." "I do not want to dig," he answered, "I am going to be an officer like papa, and have others to obey me." Just then the gardener came by, and seeing Fanny digging away and making herself very hot, promised her that in the evening he would put the ground to rights. As she found that Norman was not disposed to garden, she invited him to have a game of battledore and shuttlecock on the lawn. They had played for half-an-hour, and he seemed to be more amused than he had been with anything else. While they were in the garden Mrs Vallery had been unpacking her trunks, and wishing to show Fanny a dress she had brought from Paris for her, called her in. Norman said he would remain out and play by himself. Some time was occupied in admiring the beautiful frock and in trying on some boots and other things. How grateful did she feel to her mamma as she kissed her again and again, and thanked her for bringing her so many pretty things. Though she would have liked to have stopped and admired them again and again, she did not forget Norman. "I am afraid he will be growing dull by himself, mamma," she said, "I will go out and try to amuse him. I see that he has gone away from the lawn and has left the battledore on the grass." Fanny, putting on her bonnet, went out to look for Norman. To her surprise, after searching about for some time, she saw him digging, as she thought, on his plot of ground. "Oh, I am so glad that he is trying to amuse himself in that way," she said to herself, "he will now learn to like gardening, I hope." On reaching the spot, however, she stood aghast, for Norman, instead of working in his own part of the ground, was digging away in hers, and had already uprooted nearly all her beautiful flowers. "I am going to put them into my ground," he said, when he caught sight of her, "I do not see why you should have them all to yourself." "But, my dear Norman, they will not bear transplanting," she answered, almost bursting into tears, as she surveyed the havoc he had committed, for many of her flowers were not only dug up, but broken and trampled on, and it was evident that he intended rather to destroy than remove them.