“They’re mine,” Vevi said. “Hanny gave them to me. Anyway, Mrs. Gabriel didn’t think so much of her precious old tulips or she wouldn’t have dumped them along the roadside.” “Do you really think she did?” Connie asked. “That empty bag looked exactly like one I saw in her car.” “But your bag--the one Hanny gave you--has the same kind of markings,” Connie pointed out. “Vevi, maybe you did make a mistake and pick up the wrong one.” “No such thing,” Vevi insisted emphatically. “Anyway, even if I did, Mrs. Gabriel got another bag of tulips better than her own. Everyone knows the Golden Beauties are the very best.” “That’s so,” agreed Jane. “Even if there was a mix-up, she came out with good tulips. I don’t see why she’s making such a fuss.” “Let’s plant the Brownie flower bed,” urged Connie who had wearied of the discussion. “Come on.” Carrying the bag of bulbs and Jane’s garden tools, the girls set off for the library. “We ought to tell Miss Mohr what we are doing,” Connie suggested. “Maybe she will tell us how to do it right.” “Oh, anyone can plant tulip bulbs,” Vevi said carelessly. “Hanny told me how.” Nevertheless, the three girls went into the building to find Miss Mohr. Another librarian told them that she had left twenty minutes earlier with Peter Van Der Lann. “We don’t need anyone to tell us how to plant,” Vevi insisted. “It’s easy.” “I guess it will be all right,” Connie agreed with a troubled frown. “Only the Brownies may not like it. They may want other flowers in the bed.” “Tulips are the very best,” Vevi declared. “And Golden Beauties are the nicest bulbs.” “The only thing--you aren’t sure you’re planting Golden Beauties,” Jane teased. “For all you know, they may be Mrs. Gabriel’s tulips!” “No such thing,” Vevi insisted, opening the bag. “These are my culls.” “What’s a cull?” Jane asked for she was unfamiliar with the word. “That means a bulb that isn’t as good as the regular stock,” Vevi explained. “It will bloom though. Hanny said so.” The little girl poured some of the bulbs out on the grass. All were well-shaped, fat specimens. “Those look like good bulbs to me,” declared Jane. “Connie, don’t they seem exactly like the ones we found on the road?” “They look the same to me.” Vevi said nothing. She began to dig a neat hole in the well-pulverized ground. “Tulip bulbs have to be put in deep,” directed Connie. “I know that, because I heard Mr. Van Der Lann telling Miss Gordon.” “I am digging the hole deep,” Vevi replied. “At least six inches. That ought to be deep enough.” She pressed the first bulb down into the spot she had prepared for it. “Hey, I thought you said you knew how to plant bulbs!” Jane hooted. “You’re putting it in upside down!” “The sprout end has to be up and the roots underneath,” added Connie. “Anyone knows that, Vevi.” “Oh, I wasn’t ready to plant the bulb,” Vevi said, hastily turning it over. “I was only trying it in the hole to see if I had dug it the right size.”