down to
examine more closely his newly-found treasure; 'how delicate in colour,
how sweet in perfume! Surely this was never intended to remain hidden in
a hedge?'

Oh, if you could but have seen how she tried to raise her pretty head,
which Nature had bowed in simple loveliness, and endeavoured to look
big, little thinking that her greatest charm lay in this sweet
simplicity.

'I must certainly transplant it to my greenhouse,' he went on saying.
'With care and skill, who knows into what it may not develop!--an
entirely new plant, I doubt not. I will at once take it home.'

And away he went to procure the necessary tools for removing her from
her lowly home to one more suited to her wishes.

'Did I not tell you so!' was her delighted exclamation.

'Well, I never!' ejaculated Pimpernel, whose pretty eyes were now opened
wide in astonishment.

'Better to be born lucky than rich,' muttered Ragged Robin.

'Shall I not be grand in a conservatory?' cried the ambitious Flower.

'I would rather

"Adorn the rustic stibble-field,
Unseen, alane,"'

murmured meek Daisy.

'Ah, you have no ambition!' sneered the other; 'besides, "the rustic
stibble-field" is your proper sphere--it is not mine!'

'Pride, pride!' rebuked Honeysuckle, gazing sorrowfully down upon the
arrogant little speaker. 'Take care that you sigh not yet for your old
home and humble friends.'

'Indeed I shall not!' she retorted insolently.

'Wait, wait!' continued sturdy Bramble; ''tis the time of flowers
now--wait till the fruit-time comes.'

'I do not know what you mean,' she retorted angrily; 'nor do I'--

'That there is a time for all things,' explained Shepherd's Clock,
interrupting her.

'I trust your high hopes will be realized,' said Speedwell kindly.

How much longer this wrangling would have continued it is impossible to
say, for at that moment the gentleman returned with a trowel, spade, and
basket, and proceeded to remove her from her native soil. In justice to
her, it must be confessed that, when the moment came to part for ever
from all her old friends, and the surroundings to which, in spite of her
incessant murmurs, she felt attached, she clung desperately with her
slender, fibrous roots to the familiar spot where from a seedling she
had lived and grown--yes, clung desperately! But with the utmost care
every tender fibre was released, and she was placed in the basket and
carried away. Was she glad no