Page:Carroll Rankin--Dandelion Cottage.djvu/188

 166  about cautiously to make certain that no one was in sight, spiteful Laura drew the knife back and forth across the thick stem until, with a sudden, sharp crack, the sturdy vine parted from its root.

Two minutes later, Laura, looking the picture of propriety, sat on the Milligan's doorstep hemming her dishtowel.

Of course, when the girls made their next daily excursion about their garden they were almost broken-hearted at finding their beloved vine flat on the ground, all withered and dead.

"Oh," mourned Marjory, "now we'll never know what 'The Accident' was going to bear, pumpkins or squashes or"

"Yes," said Mabel, who was blinking hard to keep the tears back, "that's the hardest part of it, it was cut off in its p-prime—Oh dear, I guess I'm g-going to cry."

"What could have done it?" asked Bettie, who was not far from following