THE admiral was showing the new member of the Garden Committee round the gardens. “We’ll have some wallflowers here,” he said, pointing with his stick at the long borders.
“No, sir,” said Lucas.
“What do you mean, ‘No, sir’?”
“Miss Chesney asked the Committee to remember the residents don’t like wallflowers, sir.”
The admiral did not regain his temper until they came to the shrub beds. “This is where the trouble was,” he said.
“What trouble, Admiral?”
“Street children,” said the admiral with a quelling look at Lucas. “You’d never think they stole loads of earth from there? The funny thing is that the holes are closing up; we didn’t do anything, they’re closing themselves, making new earth. Don’t ask me how,” said the admiral, “because I don’t know.”