As a matter of fact, it was mostly Leon Battou, the old Frenchy who does our cookin', that really ran the garden. Say, that old boy would have something green growin' if he lived in the subway and had to bring down his real estate in paper bags. It was partly on his account, you know, that we left our studio apartment and moved out in the forty-five minutes commutin' zone. Then, too, there was Joe Cirollo, who comes in by the day to cut the grass and keep the flower beds slicked up, and do the heavy spadin'. And with Vee keepin' books on what was spent and what we got you can guess I wasn't overworked. Also it's a cinch that garden plot just had to hump itself and make good. Auntie ain't wise to all this, though. So she raises her eyebrows and remarks: "A garden? Really! I should like to see it. A few radishes and spindly lettuce, I suppose?" "Say, come have a look!" says I. And when I'd pointed out the half acre of potatoes, and the long rows of corn and string beans and peas--and I hope I called 'em all by their right names--I sure had the old girl hedgin' some. But trust her! "With so much land, though," she goes on, "it seems to me you ought to be raising your eggs and chickens as well." "Oh, we've planned for all that," says I, "ducks and hens and geese and turkeys; maybe pheasants and quail." "Quail!" says Auntie. "Why, I didn't know one could raise quail. I thought they----" "When I get started raisin' things," says I, "I'm apt to go the limit." "I shall be interested to see what success you have," says she. "Sure!" says I. "Drop around again--next fall." You wouldn't have thought she'd been disagreeable enough to go and rehearse all this innocent little bluff of mine to Vee, would you? But she does, it seems. And of course Vee has to back me up. "But, Torchy!" she protests, after Auntie's gone. "How could you tell her such whoppers?" "Easiest thing I do," says I. "But who knows what we'll do next in the nourishment producin' line? Hasn't old Leon been beggin' to go into the duck and chicken business for months? With eggs near a dollar a dozen maybe it would be a good scheme. And if we go in for poultry, why not have all kinds, turkeys as well?" So a few days later I put it up to him. Leon shakes his head. "The chickens and the ducks, yes; but the turkey----" Here he shrugs his shoulders desperate. "Je ne connais pas." "You jennie what?" says I. "Ah, come, Leon, don't be a quitter."