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margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%; width: 30%; } - .c018 { text-decoration: none; } - .c019 { margin-left: 5.56%; margin-right: 5.56%; margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c020 { margin-right: 16.67%; text-align: right; } - .c021 { margin-right: 5.56%; text-align: right; } - .c022 { margin-left: 5.56%; } - .c023 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; width: 10%; margin-left: 0; - margin-top: 1em; text-align: left; } - .sidenote, .sni { width: 10em; min-width: 5em; max-width: 10.5em; - margin-right: 2em; } - @media handheld { .sidenote, .sni { float: left; clear: none; font-weight: normal; - }} - abbr { border-bottom-width: 0; border-bottom-style: none; } - body { margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%; } - @media handheld { body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%;}} - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Sentimental Garden, by -Agnes Sweetman Castle and Egerton Castle - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Our Sentimental Garden - -Author: Agnes Sweetman Castle - Egerton Castle - -Illustrator: Charles Robinson - -Release Date: April 17, 2016 [EBook #51779] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN *** - - - - -Produced by Clarity, ellinora and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div>Transcriber’s Notes</div> - </div> -</div> - - <ul class='ul_1'> - <li>Obvious spelling and punctuation errors corrected. On page 296, “raste” could be - meant to be “haste” or “taste” - it has been left as in the original. Inconsistencies in - hyphenation in the original have been retained. - </li> - <li class='c001'>The original text used ‹ › as parenthesis instead of ( ), this style has - been retained. - </li> - <li class='c001'>One of the color illustrations is referred to as “THE MOOR” in the List of - Illustrations and as “THE MOORS” in the original caption. The caption has been changed to - “THE MOOR” for consistency. - </li> - <li class='c001'>Page headers from right hand pages have been retained as sidenotes and - placed by relevant text. - </li> - <li class='c001'>There were two chapters named XXXII in the original. The second XXXII has - been renumbered XXXIII in this text, and subsequent chapters also renumbered. - </li> - <li class='c001'>The alignment of some images was changed to fit the flow of text given the - inclusion of sidenotes. - </li> - <li class='c001'>Color illustrations and corresponding captions have been moved to fall at - chapter breaks and may be clicked on to view larger versions. - </li> - <li class='c001'>Illustrations that ran across two pages have been rejoined on one page, with - a small vertical white space in between the two halves where they did not exactly line up. - </li> - <li class='c001'>The cover has been created by the transcriber from the title page and has - been placed in the public domain. - </li> - </ul> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image001.jpg' alt='Woman and dog in garden' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>OUR<br />SENTIMENTAL<br />GARDEN</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div id='fp' class='figcenter id002'> -<a href='images/image004_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image004.jpg' alt='THE HEMICYCLE' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE HEMICYCLE</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/image006.jpg' alt='title page' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c003'>OUR SENTIMENTAL <br /> GARDEN</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>BY AGNES AND</div> - <div>EGERTON</div> - <div>CASTLE</div> - <div class='c002'><i>Illustrated by</i></div> - <div><i>Charles Robinson</i></div> - <div class='c002'>PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT CO</div> - <div>LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN</div> - <div>MCMXIV</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='small'><i>Printed in England</i></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><i>To our Kind Neighbours, of Rogate</i>,</div> - <div class='c002'><span class='large'>SIR HUGH & LADY WYNDHAM</span></div> - <div class='c002'><i>who viewed the “Villino” garden,</i></div> - <div><i>even from the beginning, with indulgent</i></div> - <div><i>eyes; and, with friendliest tact,</i></div> - <div><i>persisted in descrying possibilities of</i></div> - <div><i>grace in the wildest tangle, this</i></div> - <div><i>chronicle is affectionately inscribed</i></div> - <div><i>in pleasant remembrance</i></div> - <div><i>of too rare visits.</i></div> - <div class='c002'><i>September</i></div> - <div><i>1914</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/image010.jpg' alt='flowering plant' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'>Villino Loki</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c005'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Over the hills and far away,</div> - <div class='line'>A place of flowers crowns a rise;</div> - <div class='line'>And there our year, from May to May,</div> - <div class='line'>Comes with a breath of Paradise;</div> - <div class='line'>There the small helpless soul that lies</div> - <div class='line'>So sweetly, innocently gay,</div> - <div class='line'>In little furry things at play,</div> - <div class='line'>With perfect trust can meet our eyes;</div> - <div class='line'>Over the hills and far away,</div> - <div class='line'>Over the hills.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Over the hills and far away,</div> - <div class='line'>In every rose a dream we prize,</div> - <div class='line'>While thousand tender memories</div> - <div class='line'>Flutter about the lilac-spray;</div> - <div class='line'>To-day, to-morrow, yesterday—</div> - <div class='line'>Each unto each make glad replies;</div> - <div class='line'>Over the hills and far away,</div> - <div class='line'>Over the hills.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c006'><span class='sc'>Elinor Sweetman</span></div> -<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c007'><i>Never was trifling chronicle begun so light-heartedly -as this chatty, idly reminiscent book of -ours—and now it is under the great shadow of -war, of death and suffering, that we see it pass into its -final shape!</i></p> - -<p class='c008'><i>The “little paradise on the hill,” with all its innocent -pleasures, its everyday joys and cares; with the antics of -the “little furry things at play,” the sayings and doings -of the “famiglia”; the roses, the bulbs and seedlings; -our alluring garden plans, our small despairs and unexpected -blisses—our earthly paradise, as we have said, -seems like an unreal place. We wander through it with -spirit ill at ease; oppressed, as by a curse, through no -fault of ours. The sight of an Autumn Catalogue -(hitherto so tempting, so full of promised joys) evokes only -a sigh. The offer, from the familiar Dutchman, of bulbs -which “it will help Belgium if we buy,” turns the -heart sick. We know we must not buy bulbs, this year, -because we shall have to buy bread—bread for those who -will surely lack it—and yet, if we do not buy, others in -their turn must needs go wanting. And here is but -the merest drop in the monstrous tide of evils wantonly -let loose upon humanity by the self-styled Attila! There -are times when, looking out upon our place of peace, -we feel as though, surely, we must all be lost in some -fantastic nightmare. It is a September full of golden -sunshine; as this night falls, a benign, placid moon rises -over the silent moors into a sky the colour of spun-glass. -The breeze choirs softly through the boughs of scented -Larch and Birch. All is beauty, harmony—while -in those fields yonder, south of the sea, the Huns.... -Pray God, by the time the Spring begins to stir shyly -once more in our copses; what time the Crocus pushes -forth its little tender flame, and the Snowdrop (with us -fugitive and reluctant) bends its timorous head under our -hill-top winds, we may indeed look back upon these days -as upon some dreadful dream!</i></p> - -<p class='c008'><i>Meanwhile—even as the Villino itself is now to become -a home of convalescence for some of our wounded, still -unknown, but to be welcomed soon; even as the Cottage -is to be a refuge for women and babes fled from burning -Belgian hamlets—the following pages, breathing content -and all the harmless ways of life, may perchance help -to beguile thoughts surfeited with tales and pictures of -mortal strife. We hope that, as a sprig of Lavender, -or a Cowslip, by his pillow might for a moment -relieve the blood-tinted vision of a stricken soldier, so, -perhaps, some unquiet heart labouring under the strain -of long-drawn suspense, will find a passing relaxation, -a forgotten smile, in the company of Loki and his -companions.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'><i>Sept. 1914</i></p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image014.jpg' alt='landscape with trees' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c010'> - <div>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</div> - <div>IN COLOUR</div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#fp'>THE HEMICYCLE</a></td> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'><i><span class='xsmall'>Frontispiece</span></i></td> - <td class='c013'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#dg'>THE DUTCH GARDEN</a></td> - <td class='c012' colspan='2'><i><span class='xsmall'>To face page</span></i></td> - <td class='c013'>16</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#tb'>THE BEECH</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>142</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#sum'>SUMMER</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>150</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#tm'>THE MOOR</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>208</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#aut'>AUTUMN</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>234</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#ht'>THE HOLLY TREE</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>272</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'><a href='#win'>WINTER</a></td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c014'>”</td> - <td class='c013'>292</td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/image015.jpg' alt='small landscape' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c010'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>OUR SENTIMENTAL</div> - <div class='line'>GARDEN</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>I</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c016'> - <img class='drop-capi' src='images/image016.jpg' width='125' height='122' alt='' /> -</div><p class='drop-capi_25'> -It is easier to begin with our beasts.—First, -they are much the most important, -and secondly, there are -only six of them. Our bulbs lie -in their thousands with just a -green nose showing here and there -now in January and are nameless -things: only collectively dear, if -extraordinarily so.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It will instantly be perceived what kind of gardeners we are, -and what kind of garden we keep. We have scarcely a -single plant of “individuality.” We do not spend ten -guineas on a jonquil bulb, nor fifteen on a peony. To our -mind no flower can be common: therefore we lavish our -resources on quantity. I was going to say: not quality, -but that is where, in our opinion, the modern kind of garden-maker -goes wrong. What is in a name? Where flowers -are concerned, nothing! But how much, what treasures of -joy and colour, of shade and exquisite texture, of general -blessedness in fact, lurk in the beloved crowd of the nameless -things, that come to us designated only thus: “Best -mixed Darwin Tulips”; “Blue bedding Hyacinths”; -“Single Jonquils, best mixed,” and so on! We once descended -so far as to order “a hundred mixed Delphiniums -at 10s.,” and when, last June, we looked down on a certain -<span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span>bed in the Reserve Garden from the seat under The Beech -Tree ‹which commands that enthralling spot› and saw the -blue battalion -glowing with -enamel colours -draw up -against the -moor beyond, -we felt -not at -all ashamed of -ourselves—yea, -we felt conceitedly -pleased.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image017.jpg' alt='woman looking out at garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>But our beasts -are individual indeed; -and, as it was -said, there are only six of -them.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>CONCERNING THE PEKINESE</div> - -<p class='c008'>The first in order of importance -is the Pekinese, who, -purchased at a moment when -we were much under the enchantment -of the “Ring,” we ineptly—yet, from the -ethnological standpoint, not altogether inappropriately—called -Loki: his coat is fiery red, and he is an adept at -deceit. When we want to impress strangers we hastily -explain that he is Mo-Loki, son of the great Mo-Choki, the -celebrated champion. Loki ‹who frequently assures us -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>that he was a Lion, in Pekin› was born on the roof of -the Imperial Palace in High Street, Kensington. His -appearance and behaviour are such as bear testimony to -his princely lineage. We let him run a great deal when -he was a puppy, with the result that his legs are a little -longer than is usual with members of the Imperial Dynasty, -but “Grandpa”—Stop! It is as well to explain from the -outset that, since the advent of Loki in the family, Grandpa -is the name that has devolved, automatically, upon the -Master of the House: the infant Loki’s mistress having -assumed, from the very necessity of things, the post and -responsibility of mother ‹in Pekinese ma-ma›, it must follow -as the night the day that her father “illico” became -Grandpa.—To resume: though his legs are a trifle longer -than is usual, the Master of the House says he is much -more beautiful by reason of this distinction. And we all -agree with him.</p> - -<div class='figleft id005'> -<img src='images/image019.jpg' alt='dog resting' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki will not believe that the Manchu masters have fallen -in China ‹of course it is not from us that he has heard -these distressing rumours›, so he still demands as his right -the best silk eiderdowns to lie upon, satin for his cushions, -grilled kidney for his breakfast, freshly poured water in his -bowl every time he wants to drink; and expects immediate -attention at lunch and dinner-time, play-time, “bye-bye” time, -and all the other times when he thinks he would like his -chest rubbed. He sits up and waves his paws with imperious -gesture; or else rolls over on his back and puts -them together in an attitude of prayer. He had not at -first much oriental calm about him. Indeed, when he first -came to us his one desire was to play with every living -thing he saw, from a cow to a chicken; but the cow -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>misunderstood and ran at him, and the chicken misunderstood -and ran away. The poor puppy was perplexed and -wounded. He always -believed every new -Teddy bear toy to -be alive at first, and -would receive it in a -rapture of tail-wagging -and nuzzling kisses, -until what time, it -dawning upon him -that Teddy was a -senseless fraud, he -set himself to shake -and worry it like -a little fury. Now -he is older and -wiser. He pretends -not to see cows, and -condemns chickens; he -will growl at a strange dog, -and bite and shake a new toy -the very first day. Thus, alas, -do years make a cynic of the -young idealist!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>LOKI’S OWN ANIMALS</div> - -<p class='c008'>He only plays with his own animals. -These are: Susan, the Butler’s dog, and -Arabella, the Lavroch setter, a long, -lovely, lithe, foolish creature, whose surname is Stewart, -having come to Villino Loki out of far Scotland from a -distinguished member of that Royal clan. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>Arabella, who is ten times the size of Loki, turns him -over and over, tramples on him, -nibbles and licks him till he is unspeakable. -He will leap at her -nose, hang on to one -of her long flapping -ears, race up and -down the slopes and -round and round the -green terraces, till they -both collapse, and their -tongues hang out of -their laughing mouths, -seeming to flicker with -their panting breath, -and become as long -as the tongues of -dragons on old manuscripts.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image020.jpg' alt='dogs playing outdoors' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>A matter to be noticed is -that they never play in their -walks with us across the -moors—apparently that is -against dog etiquette—but -they will lie in wait for each -other at the garden gate on -the way home, and the fun -and the pouncing and growling jocosities begin the instant -they are inside.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Susan doesn’t play with the other animals, though she -exercises an irresistible fascination upon every dog that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>comes within a mile of her. She has a kind of Jane Eyre -charm, we suppose, for it is not at first visible to the -naked eye. She always does remind us of a small elderly -German governess, for she is squat, undemonstrative, -and eminently—oh, eminently!—respectable. She is a fox-terrier. -She has, however, one terrible weakness. Her -only joy is to have stones thrown for her. She is not, -therefore, an agreeable person to take out for a walk, -for she will get right under your feet, dig up a stone, -point at it, and bark, “Throw, throw!” with a shrill -persistence that goes through your head. And if you -are weak-minded enough to yield, then indeed you are -undone. You will be kept throwing till you wish her in -the Dog Star. She will scratch up stones till her paws -are raw. This we think a great defect, but Loki sees no -flaw in her.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>CELLARERS YOUNG, CELLARERS OLD</div> - -<p class='c008'>When Susan’s Butler first came to us, we had suffered -acutely from butlers young and butlers old, butlers bashful -and butlers bold—all of whom drank steadily. One nearly -murdered his Buttons. Another, engaged by correspondence, -vouched for by the agency, announcing his years as -forty-five, arrived huge, decrepit, asthmatic; almost, if not -quite, qualified for an old-age pension. The eight o’clock -dinner he found it impossible to serve before nine; and then -that ceremony became a perfect torture of dazed crawling, -enlivened by stertorous breathing, for which asthma and -chronic alcoholism disputed responsibility. When the -Master of the House, who is very tender-hearted, intimated -that he thought that, for the good of the newcomer’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>health, they had better part with the utmost -celerity, the veteran assented resignedly with the husky -gasp peculiar to him.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image022.jpg' alt='man with serving tray' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“You know,” said the Master of the -House, mildly, “you are not quite what -you represented yourself to be. You -said you were forty-five!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I think,” wheezed the Ancient -Cellarer; “I think I said forty-seven, -sir.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, forty-seven!” The Master -of the House was a little -satiric. “Even if you had -said forty-seven, you are a -great, great deal more than that!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Sir,” said the delinquent, with a beery -twinkle, “no butler can ever be more -than forty-seven.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This, we understand, is a maxim of life -in the profession.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A third—he was young and beautiful—had -a fondness for a brew called gin-and-ginger, -which had so cheering and immediate effect -upon him that, having left the drawing-room -after tea the very pink and perfection -of propriety, he would announce dinner -in an advanced condition of jocular elevation, and when -the plates slid out of his hands he would survey them -with a waggish smile, as one who would say: “Bless -their little hearts, see how playful they are!” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>We became anxious to secure a servant who would -have more than a few streaks of sobriety, and when -Susan’s owner came, we felt we had secured that pearl. -He came in a great hurry ‹without Susan› because of -the equally hurried departure of the beautiful hilarious one. -After a week or so, we asked him if he would consider us -as a permanency. He said he would have to consider us -a little longer. After another ten days he informed us of -Susan’s existence, and announced his intention of going -to fetch her. We breathed again.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>IN THE MATTER OF O’REILLY</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image023.jpg' alt='dog looking away' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/image024.jpg' alt='dog sitting in front of plant' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Juvenal—that is his name—is very fond of animals. A little -too fond, we thought, when he invited a military friend’s -dog to stay, during the owner’s absence at manœuvres. -This animal, by name O’Reilly, arrived in dilapidated, -devil-may-care, barrack-yard condition, which was a great -shock to our Manchu -prince. He also had pink -bald elbows and knees. -His hind legs were longer -than his front ones, which -gave him an ourang-outang -gait. As became -his Milesian name, he -fought every one he met -on his walks. Why he -did not fight Loki, we -do not know, for Loki -loathed him and, we believe, -suffered acutely in -his poor little Chinese -soul all during his stay. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Yet unwelcome as he was, scald, ungainly, tiresome, there -was something pathetic about the creature. He had a -way of looking at one, deprecating and pleading -at once; and he would display such rapture at -the smallest token of toleration, that, despite -our satisfaction at his departure, we had an -ache in our hearts too. We have a shrewd -suspicion that the corporal-major who -owned him was a rough customer, and that -poor O’Reilly’s life was not that happy one -which every “owned” dog’s ought to be. -A dog should not be treated as a dog.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>As for cats, once they have passed the giddy days of -youth, in which they are imps, sprites, goblins, pucks, -furry, fairy, freakish things—anything but mere animals—one -cannot help feeling a certain awe with regard to them. -Despite the many cycles of years that have elapsed since -their ancestors took habitation with us, they have remained -true Easterns. From father to son, from mother to -daughter they have handed down secret stores of occult -knowledge which they keep jealously to themselves, a sacred -inheritance of race. Those eyes that fix you with pupil -contracted to a slit, and look through and beyond you into -mysteries undreamt of by you: that lofty detachment, that -ineradicable independence, that relentless indifference: have -we not all felt by these signs and tokens how completely -the cat puts us outside the sphere of his real thoughts and -feelings? Priests or priestesses they seem to be, of some -alien creed, soul satisfying, contemplative, with sudden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>savage rites. Have you ever watched a cat with regard -turned inwards, meditating? Its body sways, but the -spirit bubbles softly as if it were seething in content over a -mystic fire. It does not want you to join it in its rapture, -like your dog. It has no desire to admit you into its -comradeship. It is as self-contained and self-absorbed -as the highest grade Mahatma.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image025.jpg' alt='cat in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>KITTY-WEE THE LOVELY</div> - -<p class='c008'>Kitty-Wee, the Lovely, is chief of our three cats. -She is a Persian lady with a wonderful robe of -silver grey, faintly blue, and orange eyes inherited from -that most beautiful, most evil monster, Tittums the Bold-and-Bad, -her father, who spent his adorable kittenhood -and his stormy youth under our London roof, until his -habit of lying in wait for the servants at odd corners and -jumping at their elbows, made it imperative for us to part -with him. He was then adopted by a gentle parson’s -daughter, in the freedom of whose country dwelling it -was hoped that he might sow his wild oats and settle -down into respectability. But alas! the day dawned, -when lying on the rector’s cassock in the dining-room, -he was so incensed at the reverend gentleman’s polite -request to move, that he chased him round and round -the room, ran him down in the hall and bit him. The -churchman was not an unreasonable being and had made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>many allowances for the frailty of degenerate creation; -but he drew the line at the violation of his reverend elbows. -Tittums was once again, with many tears and heart-rendings, -passed on. This time to a lady who keeps a -cattery. We hear that he has become a model of every -virtue, and that she only wears a fencing mask and boxing -gloves when she combs him, because on the day when she -left them off, Tittums, in a fit of absence of mind, bit her -through the thumb. Anyone who takes a cat paper can -hear more of this most distinguished beast, under the name -of “Saracinesca.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Kitty-Wee is supposed to have inherited her father’s superlative -looks—only he was “smoke”—and her mother’s -angelic disposition. If occasionally a spark of the paternal -temper flashes out, the gardener’s wife ‹with whom she -prefers to dwell› says “Kitty is a bit nervous to-day.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>KITTY-WEE’S MESALLIANCES</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was after Kitty-Wee’s first <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mésalliance</span></i> that she took up -her abode with the worthy pair in the “little cot,” as -Mrs. Adam calls it, at the bottom of the garden. Persian -princesses, from the time of “A Thousand and One -Nights” onwards, are proverbially capricious. But what -perverse freak of youthful fancy induced our delicate silver-pawed -highborn damsel to fix her young affections upon -Mr. Hopkinson was and is, a painful mystery.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mr. Hopkinson, a very hooligan among cats, so degenerate -indeed as to have lost all his eastern characteristics, and to -have assumed a positively “Arry-like, bank-’oliday, disreputable, -Hampstead-Heath kind of vulgarity,” was a -lean, mangy creature with a denuded tail. He had a black -spot over one eye; the other eye was conspicuous by -its absence. We could hear his raucous voice uplifted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>in serenade, suggestive of accordeons, night after night, and -his guttural whisper of “Me ’Oighness” behind the bushes -when we went on our -walks. Every effort was -made to discourage -the preposterous suitor. -But, alas! Kitty smiled. -The infatuated Princess -escaped the vigilance of -her distracted family. -Perhaps it is best to -draw a veil over the -consequences of this rash alliance. Kitty -indeed did her best to obliterate them, -refusing to do anything but sit heavily -on three black and white kittens with -ropy tails. She only purred again the -day the last one died; “Oh! she was -pleased, Mam,” said the gardener’s wife; -“quite took up again, she did.”</p> - -<div class='figleft id006'> -<img src='images/image027.jpg' alt='animals watching each other' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Kitty-Wee’s next matrimonial venture, -though likewise, we grieve to say, morganatic, -was very much more successful. -In fact it is to it that we owe—Bunny! -The name, the lineage, the very personality -of Bunny’s father is wrapt in mystery; -but judging by the splendour of Bunny’s -black fur, it is to be conjectured that Kitty-Wee’s -choice was of a dark complexion, -and if not royal, at any rate of noble blood.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two brave brothers Bunny had, but he is the sole survivor; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>all the more cherished. And really, even if he lacks his -mother’s supreme distinction, we cannot but feel proud of -him. Waggish, gentle, humorous creature that he is, he -will hang round the neck of -Adam, the gardener, like a boa, -for a whole morning together; -or stalk the dogs from tree to -tree, pounce on them at unexpected -moments to deliver a -swinging friendly slap on -Susan’s fat back, or to waltz -with Arabella, or to inveigle -Loki, with odd freakish sidelong -gambols, into a mysterious -game of his own, which, as -our little Chinaman has something -of the cat in him, he -seems to understand.</p> - -<div class='figright id008'> -<img src='images/image028.jpg' alt='cat in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We are very glad that Adam -had Bunny to console him, for -Kitty-Wee’s offspring has an -odd resemblance in size and appearance to Cæsar, the -late Garden Cat, much beloved, who alas! went the -way of all fur ‹with a melancholy little assistance from -the chemist› shortly before Bunny’s appearance in this -plane.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, Miss,” said Mrs. Adam, on the Sunday that -followed that Socratic tragedy, “last night was the most -dreadful night we ever spent! It was the first time for -thirteen years we hadn’t had a cat in the house! Oh! -Miss, I thought Daddy would have broken his heart. He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>just sat with his head on his hand, and sighed. Really -Miss Marie, I don’t know when we’ve felt so bad.”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image029.jpg' alt='cat and dog' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It will be seen that Mr. and Mrs. Adam have the right -feeling towards “little sister cat and little brother dog,” as -<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Francis of Assisi would have called them. This suits -us very well, and oddly enough, Villino Loki is a kind of -paradise for things of fur and feather. Cat and dog live in -a strange harmony. To see Loki kiss Bunny, or Bunny clasp -Arabella round the neck, is as pleasing a sight as you could -imagine. And if Kitty-Wee occasionally boxes Loki with -a kind of delicate compactness, it is with her claws in. As -for Juvenal, the butler, whose pantry is full of singing birds, -no sense of etiquette will restrain him from public blandishments -when Loki is on the scene. George, the footman, -can be heard addressing him—Loki—in back passages, as -“My loved one!” And Tom, the old long-haired English -cat, rules the kitchen.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE VICISSITUDES OF TOM</div> - -<p class='c008'>Tom has reached the patriarchal age of eighteen years, and -is cherished by the master of the Villino. He has had many -vicissitudes. He was stung by an adder during our very -first summer, years ago, on these moors, and lay for a day -in a coma with one paw swollen the size of a child’s arm, -to be saved by doses of brandy and milk. A few years -later he was caught in a trap. How he got free no one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>knows, but we found him crawling, piteously complaining, -with a shattered leg. With the help of the cook, who -followed the tradition of the establishment and -was Tom’s slave, the leg was set with strips -of firewood, the bone -being very successfully -mended. It so -happened that the -Master of the House -had, about the same -time, snapped his <i>tendo-plantaris</i> at tennis; -and it was a sight to see them both when -they stumped down the wooden passages—the master dot-and-go-one -on his crutches, Thomas following in his splints, -dot-and-go-three.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image030.jpg' alt='cat lying down (Tom)' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><i>Tom</i></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The amateur surgery, however, was not completely successful. -Though Thomas’ bone knit, the poor mangled -flesh remained unhealed, and at last the cook conveyed -her darling in a basket to the most celebrated London -animal doctor. Thereafter ensued a time of horrible -suspense. Telegrams went briskly backwards and forwards. -Dr. Jewell “doubted if he could save the limb.” -Tom’s adoring family could not contemplate the tragedy -therein implied. “Better euthanasia!” we wired. “Will -do my best for little cat,” the sympathetic Æsculapius of -God’s humble creatures replied. Hope and devotion -triumphed. Tommy returned to us with three legs in -large fur trousers, the fourth as close as a mouse. The -fur thereon has never grown to full length again. We fear -it will never grow now.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Dear old Tom is toothless, and he is getting a little bald -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>on the top of his head; but he is a beautiful creature still, -and a dandy. His four spats are always of an almost -startling snowiness; his shirt-front ditto. He is not very -fond of any of the other animals, and was so revolted by -Kitty-Wee’s <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mésalliance</span></i> that she could not show her face -in the kitchen without his instantly using as severe language -as ever John Knox to Queen Mary. “Hussy!” was the -mildest of his terms.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='dg' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span> -<a href='images/image033_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image033.jpg' alt='THE DUTCH GARDEN' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE DUTCH GARDEN</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image035.jpg' alt='house on hill' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>II</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Where we live, high on the southern moorlands of Surrey, -the desolation of winter never seems to reach us; unless, -indeed, upon certain days of streaming rains, or weeping -mists that rush rapid and ghost-like up the valley, and -blot out the world from view. But those days would -be dreary anywhere and in any season.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our funny little house, more like an Italian “Villino,” perhaps, -than anything English, stands high, midway between -the rolling shoulders of moor and the green-wooded dip -of the valley. And the moor has always colour in it. -There are some sunset days when it seems not so much to -reflect as to give out rose and purple and carmine. And -now in January it is a wonderful copper-brown, with the -tawny of dying Bracken and the yellow of young Gorse. -And opposite to us a belt of birchwood is purple against -solemn green of pine. And the purple and solemn green -run right down together to the bright verdure of fields and -dells; then up again to moorland, where the fir trees march -up once more against the sky.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There are Larches in these woods, and Oaks, so that the -spring tints are almost as wonderful as the autumn. When -the Furze and Broom are all guinea-gold on the moor, the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>young Bracken begins to creep in green patches that are -pure joy. Later on the Bell-heather breaks into a deep -rose which, with the sun on it, holds such a glory of colour -that you could scarce find its match in an old Cathedral -window. And when this splendour begins to turn to -russet, then comes the tender silvery amethyst of the Ling, -and spreads a mantle all over those great shoulders of -wild land that is of the exact hue most beautiful to contrast -with the full summer woods and the blue of an August -sky; a combination so matchless for colour-loving eyes -that it seems as if one’s soul were not big enough to hold -the complete impression. And when our Delphiniums rear -themselves against this background, we feel, looking on it -all, as if we could sing for the mere rapture of it; or—having -no voice—roll in the grass like Loki or like Bunny.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A LITTLE PLACE OF ONE’S OWN</div> - -<p class='c008'>For a long time we—Loki’s Grandfather and Grandmother—had -said to each other that we must have a week-end -cottage. We were so tired of hiring other people’s houses, -summer after summer, and of the labour ‹not unattended -by some pleasurable excitement on Loki’s Grandmother’s -part› of pulling their furniture about, and hiding away all -the family portraits and the choicest works of art, to make -the alien spaces tolerable to one’s own individuality. So -tired, too, of the boredom and worry of having to restore -everything to its pristine ugliness and hang up the enlarged -photographs and the dreadful oil paintings on the walls -once more—a tedious task, albeit enlivened on one occasion -by the thrilling discovery that, having consigned these -treasures to an oak chest in the hall, most of them had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>grown fur; and that on another the oil painting of your -detested landlady, in middle Victorian chignon and the hump -of the period, has received a scratch on the nose which no -copious application of linseed oil will disguise. We -always detest our landlady ... though not as much as -we loathe the tenants who may happen to hire a house -of ours.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image037.jpg' alt='street view of house' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>At the end of each summer, therefore, we would make -elaborate calculations to prove what a great economy it -would be to -have a little -place of our -own. Finally -these plans and desires -crystallized into -action. When Loki’s -Grandfather returned -from a round of inspection -to the hotel -where we were staying in the district -we fancied, and told Loki’s -Grandmother that he had visited a funny little house -with a terrace upon which he “saw her”—in his own -phraseology—she was extremely sceptical. And when -we drove down the hill to view his discovery, and were -literally dropped from the side road through a perfunctory -gate into the steepest little courtyard it is -possible to imagine, and she beheld green stains on the -rough-cast wall of the white small house, her scepticism -increased to scoffing point. She was blind to the charms -of the pretty pillared porch. The narrowness of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>entrance passage filled her with disdain. Though she -grudgingly admitted a possibility in the drawing-room, it -was not until we emerged upon the terrace that her preventions -vanished.—That rise and fall of moorland in such -startling proximity, and the way in which the house and its -terraces seemed to cling to the hillside and be perched in -space between the giant curves and the dip of the valley -beyond, fairly took her breath away. An artist friend described -the first impression of the view in these words: “It is -so sudden!” For a long time, even after the queer, fascinating -spot had become our own, this wonder of “suddenness” -always seized us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It still seems incomprehensible to us that anyone could -have desired to dispossess himself of so attractive a place—an -Italian “Villino” on the Surrey Highlands is not to -be found every day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But, after all, it only became a Villino after our ownership. -It was just a small white house on the hillside before that. -Heather and Gorse, Bramble and Bracken pressed hard upon -the small area of the property which was at all cultivated, -between densely growing clumps of pine and holly.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE FIRST TRANSFORMATIONS</div> - -<p class='c008'>The courtyard is no longer dank: it is widened, levelled, -and walled in against its high fir-grown strip of bank. It -is guarded by bright green wooden gates, and three sentinel -Cypresses that begin to mark the Italian note.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As for the lower reach—the Reserve Garden now—which -in former days was a dumping-ground for horrors of broken -glass, potsherds and tin cans ‹a dreary patch of weeds -and couch grass withal›, it is unrecognizable. Especially -this year, when, to the herbaceous border, to the espaliered -apple-trees, and to the neat little turfed walks, we have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>added a Rose-Garden between screens of rustic woodwork -which are to blaze in the full luxuriance of the adorable -Wichuriana tribe.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Where the jungle waxed thickest, fair paths have been -cleared. An avenue bordered by a double row of tall -slender Pines runs from top to bottom of the hill, with a -view of our neighbour’s buttercup field on the one hand, -and of our own Bluebell and May-tree glade on the other. -It requires a positive effort of imagination to recall that -this was a literally -impenetrable thicket -when we first came.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image039.jpg' alt='entrance to house off street' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>A VILLINO ON SURREY HILLS</div> - -<p class='c008'>Nor is the house less -altered. As it was -hinted before, a -small white Surrey -house has, by -some singular, -scarcely intentional -process, become enchanted into an Italian -Villino. Of course, some structural alterations were -necessary.</p> - -<div class='figleft id005'> -<img src='images/image040.jpg' alt='house interior with plants' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>On entering the red-tiled hall ‹once the pantry!›, at the -end of which the glass door giving on the terrace frames -Verrochio’s little naked boy, struggling with his big fish, -flanked on each side by Cypresses, you might easily fancy -yourself at Fiesole or Bello Sguardo, but for the unmistakable -northern stamp of the moorland beyond. Passing -through the other glass doors into the inner hall, the first -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>object to meet the eye is the big della Robbia over the -gracious figure of the Madonna kneeling against a blue -sky with dear little green clouds upon it. Through -the open dining-room door you have a vision, all -golden orange, of different deep shades. The Scotch -builder we employed for the -construction of the two new -wings opined that “the -scheme was verra’ daring.” -Personally, every time we -go in, it warms the cockles -of our hearts. We had -the golden-hued carpet especially -dyed. We chose the -tangerine distemper for the -walls. We had, indeed, -considerable difficulty in -obtaining the higher note -for the curtains. Antique -chairs, with seats and backs -of brown leather tooled -like old bindings, we brought -from Rome; from whence -also came the yellow marble sideboard table -on its gilt-carved legs, above which a bronzed -cast of Gian di Bologna’s Mercury springs -out from that orange wall on a flamboyant -gilt bracket, with a grace we have never -seen that adorable conception display anywhere -else. We found a handsome, but anæmic, oak -fitment in this room, filling the whole right wall with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>cupboards, panelled overmantel, and bookshelves. It is no -longer anæmic, but polished by our industry to a -pleasing depth of amber gloss.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE DORATORE’S ANTIQUES</div> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image041.jpg' alt='house interior with window view' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>So Italy walked into the little white Surrey -house almost as soon as the -doors were open to us. But -it is in the drawing-room that -she has mostly established her -self. It is so filled with dear -Roman things that we can think -ourselves back again in that -haunt of all joy, when we cross -its threshold. It is full of associations -of delightful days, of -quaint beings. There is the -rococo <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">paravent</span></i>, gilt and carved -in most delicate extravagance, -which we bought of the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> -in the Piazza Nicosia. That -fire-screen—a real Bernini, once -the frame of an altar-piece—now -holds in its strong bold oval a -pane of glass where perhaps some -wan Madonna shewed her seven-pierced heart. -The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> picked up these things in old -villas and disused churches. His booth -was indeed a sight to see.—Having recently -been on a visit to Rome, Loki’s “great-aunt” was -naturally charged with many commissions in that quarter. -Armed with a letter of directions from the Italian scholar -of the family, she and a Lancashire maid wandered down -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>there one misty afternoon in November, at an hour when -all the crazy little houses of the ancient Piazza seem to -fold up and huddle together in the purple Roman dusk.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore’s</span></i> wares winked through the dimness; and -having duly knocked their heads against wreaths of -dangling frames in his doorway, the pilgrims proceeded to -steer a perilous path among the heaps of gilded <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">débris</span></i> -within.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i>, made visible only by his paper cap, was -seated in a nest of angels, tinkering at a fat cherub and -whistling gaily. Hearing steps he poked his head through -the large oval of an empty mirror, and stared unconcernedly -at the visitors, whose advance was punctuated -by cataclysms of falling frames, church candlesticks, and -other “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">oggetti religiosi</span></i>.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the fifth or sixth tumble, he rolled away from his -angels with unimpaired cheerfulness, and apologized.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Scusi, scusi!</span></i>” Smilingly he picked up a broken wing -and a bit of acanthus leaf. “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Scusi!</span></i>” again. “Aha! a -letter!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here the fat laugh merged into a bellow which made the -walls ring, and brought a dirty little urchin tumbling down -a ladder from some loft overhead. The urchin diving -under a heap of prostrate apostles, produced a stick with -an iron spike, which he held respectfully under his patron’s -chin. The doratore stuck a candle on the spike, lit it, -and with the flame in fearful proximity to his bearded face, -proceeded to open the letter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Aha! from the noble family at Villino Loki!” Here he -took off his cap with a flourish and did not replace it. -“The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">signor Inglese</span></i>, is he well?—<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Mi piace.</span></i> And the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span><i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">gentilissima signorina</span></i> who does me the honour to write?—<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Mi -piace, mi piace.</span></i> And Mama?—Better?—<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Bonissimo!</span></i> -Please the good God to bring her again to Rome. But -not this month,” waving a warning finger before his nose. -“In April. In the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">primavera</span></i>, Rome is as salubrious as -she is beautiful. Now what does Mama want? Brackets? -Angels?—<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Ecco.</span></i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He pointed to a pair of fantastic creatures that jutted out -like gargoyles under the ceiling. “What? Not pretty? -<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Ma! Scusi!</span></i> they are <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">antichi bellissimi</span></i>—they come from -a castle in the Abruzzi; there is not their match in Rome.” -Snapping the candle from the imp, on whose locks it was -unheededly guttering, he waved it round his own head, -waking up unexpected companies of saints on the walls -and making pools of light and darkness among the golden -hillocks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“They are exactly the noble family’s taste,” said the -<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i>, replacing his cap with an air of finality. “She -said <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">cinquanta lire</span></i>—she shall have them for <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">quaranta</span></i>!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Recognizing that this incident was closed, Loki’s aunt -thought she would do a deal on her own account, and -picking up a little antique frame, fell back on the only -Italian word she knew:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Quanto?</span></i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> unexpectedly priced the frame at twenty-five -<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">lire</span>, and cheap at that, and all of a sudden the little -shop was filled with confusion. The would-be purchaser -wished to take away her prize, the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i>, misunderstanding, -vociferated that nothing would be broken on the -sea-journey; the Lancashire maid struck in with English -addresses for the other wares; finally, the candle-bearer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>was sent flying round the corner to fetch a friend who, by -the grace of God, had the gift of tongues.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Breathless, he returned, with a bundle of rags hobbling -along on a crutch, by his side.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Benissimo!</span></i>” exclaimed the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i>, with a sigh of relief. -“This gentleman, <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">signora</span></i>, is a friend of all the artists in -Rome! He knows English, French, German—everything!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He then performed the ceremonious rites of introduction! -“<span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Signor Guiseppi Renzo</span>, a person of great worth and -learning.—The noble lady belonging to the family of my -cherished patrons, <span lang="it" xml:lang="it">i Castelli</span>.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The bundle of rags swept off its battered hat with a flourish, -disclosing a wall-eye and a three-weeks-old beard, and -remarked, in Italian, that the weather was beautiful for the -time of the year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But not so beautiful as in spring,” said the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> -encouragingly. Upon which Loki’s aunt bowed too, and -smiled and murmured, “Oh! <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">si</span></i>, <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">si</span></i>—I mean no.” And -then feeling dreadfully uncouth and ill-mannered in presence -of so much courtesy, picked up her frame again and looked -helpless. Instantly the interpreter warmed to his office. -In fluent if curious English, he ascertained her wishes, and -then communicated them with much gesticulation to the -<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i>, who slapped a fat forehead, exclaiming in a -contrite manner, “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Va bene, va bene!</span></i>” Finally, the imp -was dispatched on a last errand in search of a little open -carriage, and having carefully wrapped the frame in a -copy of the “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Corriere</span></i>” produced from his own pocket, -the bundle of rags hobbled out into the Piazza, where -he and the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> stood bareheaded to wish the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>ladies a safe journey to England, and a speedy return -to Rome.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image045.jpg' alt='fancy glass' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>MORE BRIC-A-BRAC</div> - -<p class='c008'>It is little wonder that the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> should cherish us. -The drawing-room of the Villino on the Surrey hill is chiefly -furnished out of his store. Therefrom come the Venetian -chairs, the huge <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Goldoni</span></i> armchair, the two cabinets of -rusty gold. The hanging cabinet is full of Venetian glass, -picked up—of all places—at that roaring -cheap emporium, Finocchi’s, in the hideous -modern corso fitly dedicated to <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Vittorio -Emanuele</span></i>. ‹To think these bubbles of ethereal -loveliness, these liquid curves, these foam-frail -phantasies, should have been discovered, unshattered, -in such a spot!› There from the -walls a wistful <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Giovannino</span></i>, with pious, -sentimental, guileless head inclined, looks -down from his golden background, a true -bit of early Siennese simplicity and faith. He -came to us from the talons of a voluble Jew in the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Via due -Macelli</span></i>, from which unclean grasp were likewise rescued -those meek companions, “<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Bernardino of Siena” and -“<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Antoninus,” on the opposite wall. <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Bernardino’s -face is quite out of drawing, but, nevertheless, rarely -has any presentment been more impregnated with holy -benignity. The gentle pair hang just above a statue -of Polyhymnia.... Oh! that “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Manifattura di Signa</span></i>,” in -the dark purlieus of the Via Babuino! It is a blessing that -we only discovered it the last week of our four months’ -stay in Rome, and that our resources were then at a low -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>ebb; else, indeed, the exiguous limits of our new country -home never would have held our purchases. Another -“Madonna” between the rose-coloured curtains in the -narrow window.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yes, indeed, there are a great many “Madonnas” about -the place. There is an undeniably papistical atmosphere.—An -old gentleman, of developed intellectuality, who stumbled -in upon us shortly after our establishment, could not conceal -the horrible impression it made upon him. His thoughts -would have been easy to read even if the hurry of his -adieux had not so plainly proclaimed his disgust. Seeing -his eyes fixed upon the majolica statuette in question, we -‹perhaps with a little malice› informed him that it was -known as the “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Madonna del Bacio</span></i>.” It was then he rose, -not quite swallowing down his “Faugh!”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>AN OLD-TIME NOTE</div> - -<p class='c008'>“You had not expected to find such superstition abroad in -an enlightened age,” we murmured politely. We cling to -these old-world symbols—some of us by conviction, others -for mere love of the beautiful past.—A little mistake? The -wrong house, say you? How could we have been so -stupid as not to guess!—Of course, you wanted the -bungalow at the other end of the village. Yes, Mrs. -Ludwigsohn is everything that you can desire to meet. -Up-to-date cap-a-pie. Socialism, rationalism, suffragism. -You can begin on the suffrage: she will saw the air with -her right hand in a convincing platform manner. A delightful, -capable woman! She feeds her infants scientifically -on proteids. And there are Röntgen pictures—anatomical, -you know—in the hall, that you will find more -inspiring than della Robbia. Oh, you will get on with -her splendidly. We know her ... slightly. Indeed, we -<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>blush when we think of our one and only meeting: it was -so inharmonious on our part. She began to argue—and -instantly had us in a cleft stick: “Soul?” she exclaimed, -fiercely interrupting an incautious remark. “Soul? there is -no such thing. I deny it.—Prove,” she cried, “prove I have -a soul!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Poor lady, how could we? No—the Villino is certainly -no place for the higher critic; for the lady of ’isms. We -are not rationalistic in our tastes; we love old and simple -things; prefer to take much for granted in life and enjoy -the good peace that is vouchsafed.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id009'> -<img src='images/image047.jpg' alt='decorative oval' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span> - <h2 class='c015'>III</h2> -</div> -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>SIX GARDENING VIRTUES</div> -<p class='c008'>When we first began to own a garden we could not -bring ourselves to wait in patience for developments. We -expected our beds to bloom as by magic. We vehemently -ordered pot-plants because no seedlings could be expected -to “do anything” in June; -and the disproportion between -our bills and the result filled -us with dismay. But a garden -is at once the most delightful -and cunning of teachers. How -kindly are the virtues it inculcates!—Patience, -faith, hope, tenderness, gratitude, resignation, -things in themselves as fragrant and beautiful as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>the flowers, or like the herbs, a little repellent of aspect, -but sweet in their bruised savour.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image048_049.jpg' alt='garden view - two pages wide' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Now we have even been taught to take pleasure and -comfort from the vision of the beds in their winter preparation, -where with the believer’s eye, we anticipate the -fulfilment of the spring. In the little Dutch Garden under -the new wing, -the two long -beds between -the clipped Bilberry -hedges -are full of compact -cushions -of Forget-me-not. -Through -these the -green noses -of the china-blue -Hyacinths, -that -are to make lakes of colour and scent at the end of March, -are beginning to push upwards.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The winter has been very mild.—Another garden lesson: -too much spoiling in infancy is bound to produce forwardness -in the young, and the inevitable result of withering -snubs!</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Hyacinths have faded, the Forget-me-nots will -have spread a sheet of tender beauty over the unsightliness. -‹Did we mention that a garden teaches charity?› And -between this flying scud of blue foam the Darwin Tulips -will have already reared bold green snake heads which will -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>gradually become invaded by tints of mauve, rose, dark -purple, until the day when their glorious chalices will -open, as if cut out of living jewels, translucent to the -light.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>DUTCH BULBS AND ROSES</div> - -<p class='c008'>The Dutch Garden is bounded by a clipped yew hedge on -two sides, divided by a rustic archway where Pink Dorothy -rambles in June and onwards. Against this hedge there -are two long beds lying to the south, filled with crimson -and red roses: in spring edged with Darwins and Arabis, -before Mme. Normand Levavasseur spreads her disappointing -maroon clusters. On the north side the brick -wall of the terrace, divided in its turn opposite the archway -by brick steps, is flanked by Darwin tulip beds. The -beds under the side of the house to the west have also -Darwins with a carpet of Forget-me-nots and a fringe -of Arabis. The space that runs back to the outer -wall under the study windows is planted with Gloire de -Versailles, Pyrus Japonica and the ubiquitous Tulips and -Forget-me-nots.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is one thing we have succeeded in impressing on the -patient and kindly Adam, and that is that we “cannot bear -bald spaces.” Our bulbs lie as close as they can without -injuring each other. Our Wallflowers, even now, in -January, jostle!</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the bed that runs right along the bricked upper terrace, -there lie, awaiting the call of the different months ‹please -add docility and punctuality to the moral list›, behind a -deep border of Mrs. Sinkins, a double row of Crocuses, a -row of Thomas More Tulips, a little hedge of white and -red “Polyantha” Roses, and groups of “Candidum” Lilies. -At intervals, on the top of the terrace wall, are large -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>Compton vases which will foam with Forget-me-Nots, -and thrust clusters of Hyacinths up against the Moor by -and by. Just now they carry little yellow torches of -Retinospora Aurea, which Adam said, when he first planted -them, looked, he thought, “very lonely,” but which, each -rising from a field of green moss, stand out, we think, with -a classic dignity against the sombre magnificence of those -rolling winter hills.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span> - <h2 class='c015'>IV</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id008'> -<img src='images/image052.jpg' alt='dog looking at grave' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>And did we say that one could ever in any circumstances -wish Susan into the dogstar? Alas! poor dear -little Susan, she reposes -in a raw, ostentatious -grave in the Oak Tree -Glade with six bulb -spikes at the top of the mound. -We should like to put a granite -stone there with the words: “Here -lies Susan, a good dog.” All -that was possible was done to -save her, and she was the most -pathetic, gentle, patient creature; -at the very end, seeking blindly with -one small paw for her master.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>FORBIDDEN TERRITORY</div> - -<p class='c008'>Poor Juvenal was so disconsolate -that we did not know what to do. -We hit, however, on the happy -thought of purchasing a small white -Highland Terrier puppy from a litter -on sale in the neighbourhood. Bettine -‹thus she has been christened -with a fine disregard of local colour› -arrived, a dirty, cringing, abject -little wretch; but the atmosphere -of Villino Loki has wrought so -great a change that she is now a perfect imp of mischief and -general cheekiness. The Master of the House says she -is like a Paris gamin, and that Gavroche is the only name -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>that befits her. The days of cringing are certainly over. -Her long ears cocked, her wide mouth derisively open, she -defies authority, with attitudes and expressions that can -only be transcribed by such remarks -as “Pip, Pip,” or the -gesture which the French know -as <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pied-de-nez</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='figleft id010'> -<img src='images/image053.jpg' alt='dog walking down stairs' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The other dogs at first protested -fiercely against this substitute -for their beloved Susan -even Arabella curling a -ferocious lip, and striking -out with her -fringed paw. But -now they have -accepted the new -comrade with all -the generosity of -their fine characters. -Loki himself -makes no objection, -except when -she ventures upon -territory which he -regards as peculiarly -his own; -such as the grand-maternal -bedroom.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The month that has taken away the harmless humble life of -Juvenal’s fox-terrier, has also brought the news of England’s -loss in one of her most gallant sons. He was a friend of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>the household, and Loki, I am sure, does not forget—for a -long memory is one of the Pekinese characteristics—how -the South Pole hero played hide-and-seek with him in his -puppyhood for a whole hour, one summer’s day, like a -very child himself. The family of Villino Loki have -memories, too, of that friendship which they valued so -highly; and they will always carry the vivid picture of the -strong brown face, with the blue eyes that were at once as -guileless as a child’s and full of a far-away vision, as if -they never ceased to contemplate their high and distant goal. -The world is crowded with bumptious people who do -nothing at all that is useful, if they do not do harm. Here -was a man who had already accomplished mighty achievement -and was set on mightier still, and there never was -anyone so modest, so anxious to push others forward and -keep himself in the background. He was asked by one of -us to write a line in an autograph book, and he set down -characteristically a tribute to another:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,</div> - <div class='line'>Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel....”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We laughed ‹after that futile fashion that becomes a kind -of habit nowadays› and said, “We always think that -sounds so uncomfortable!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He raised those blue eyes, half humorously, half deprecatingly. -“You make me feel ashamed of being incorrigibly -romantic.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was we who felt ashamed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We are sure,” we answered, “you have a good friend -somewhere.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>“Yes,” he said, “the best ever a man had.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We are glad to think that friendship was with him all -through and at the end. In one of the last letters ever -received from the doomed Antarctic Expedition the tribute -is paid again: “No words of mine,” writes he, “can -describe what he is.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image055.jpg' alt='bird on branch' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>TOM’S GRAND MANNERS</div> - -<p class='c008'>The birds have eaten every single bud on our baby almond -trees—the first year that they have had any flower buds at -all. Ungrateful little wretches! the Master of -the Villino sees personally to the replenishing -of the numerous bird-baths and drinking-pans; -and Juvenal provides them with -cocoa-nuts filled with lard and baskets full -of crumbs—aided by Gold-Else, the cook, -who loves little creatures in fur and -feather as much as the rest of the -household. Tom, the old cat, is very -happy under this lady’s kind rule, -and, to show his appreciation, -accompanies her in stately fashion -every night up the kitchen stairs -to her bedroom door. The act -of courtesy accomplished, she as -solemnly reconducts him downstairs -again to spread his couch for him—a sheet of brown -paper, by his request.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Hyacinths are breaking out of their green hoods, -shaking blue bells; but our Scillas seem to be going to disappoint -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>us. This sandy soil on our Surrey heights is not -at all appreciated by bulbs. Snowdrops will have nothing -to say to us, unless in a prepared bed. Narcissus Poeticus -disappeared altogether after one year’s blooming. We are -trying to naturalize Bluebells in a glade which we have -cleared—and in which this year has been planted an avenue -of pink May trees, to end at the bottom of the dell in a -group of white Azaleas—but we are not at all sure that we -shall succeed. However, we have our compensations: -Azaleas thrive, and so do Rhododendrons. We are -year by year adding more of the former to the wild -slopes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Below the terrace, yclept the “Hemicycle,” a path bordered -with Azalea Mollis was a perfect glory last May, -although it had only been planted the preceding autumn. -The “Hemicycle” was a little fairy glade of Crocus a week -ago, the second in February; and we have still hope of -the Scillas which surround our bereft almond trees. A -rough wall rises from it to the Upper Terrace, over which -Dorothy Rambler will fling its lovely blooms in immense -trails by and by; and its stones themselves hold a never-ending -succession of delight in the shape of Arabis, Aubretia, -Cerastium, Thrift, and the like. Yellow roses -climb up to meet the Dorothy, and the dear little pink China -Rose grows in bushes all along the front between the -Lavender plants which we are trying to acclimatise, but -which, year after year, are blighted by the frost before -they have had time to grow strong.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span> -<img src='images/image057.jpg' alt='garden path' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figright id012'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span> -<img src='images/image058.jpg' alt='two ladies working in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Satisfactory as our wall-garden is, there is a wall-garden -at a cottage in a neighbouring village which never fails to -fill us with envy every time we see it. It belongs to two -maiden ladies, whom we have christened Tweedle-Ann and -Tweedle-Liza. They are so extraordinarily -like each other that even -they themselves ‹we have heard› -hardly know which is which. They -have the same rotundity of figure, -the same uncertain obliquity in one -eye, the same cheerful rosy visage, -the same sleek bands of grey hair.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the Master of the House was a -young man, an Irish servant was heard -to observe to him, gazing rapturously -at him as he walked away from her -vision, all unconsciously, in his shooting-garb: -“And indeed he’s a lovely -gentleman. Them jars of legs!” ‹As -a matter of fact, Loki’s Grandfather -has very nice legs.› But Tweedle-Ann -and Tweedle-Liza, in short, sensible -grey tweed skirts, bending their portly -forms over their wall garden, have more -than often presented to the passer-by a -vision....</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Japanese say that reticence is the -very soul of art. Our aspirations are -always towards the artistic, but there is -something touching in four ... exactly -similar ... side by side...!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A TERRIFYING GOOD WISH</div> - -<p class='c008'>To digress once more: Loki’s Grandfather -is no doubt a man of fine proportions; though he is -not at all plump, he has all the athlete’s dread of becoming -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>so. Once when we were stranded at a small wayside -station in Ireland, without even a bench to sit upon, he -began to while away the time by testing his weight on the -automatic machine. The indicating needle travelled considerably -further than he expected! He was standing, transfixed, -staring at the pointing finger, when a very old woman -with a shawl over her head, holding a very small boy by -the hand, suddenly broke into loud paeans beside him:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“God bless your honour!—Isn’t it the grand gentleman -you are! Glory be to God, may you grow larger, and -larger, and larger!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“For heaven’s sake,” cried Loki’s Grandfather, wheeling -round in horror, “don’t say such a thing!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And indeed I do, yer honour.—Look at him now,” she -went on, shaking the little creature she held by the hand, -“you’ll never see a finer gentleman. Don’t you wish you -had a Dada like that?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then she burst out again and continued to wish him -increase in Sybilline tones. They were both so extraordinarily -serious, she in her benisons, he in his terror of -the curse, that as Loki’s Grandmother sat on her trunk -she was weak with laughter.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A LOCAL POET</div> - -<p class='c008'>The Master of the Villino had a charming little experience -last spring. Some time before, in the winter, he fell into -conversation with an old sweep, who was tramping up the -hill, the evidence of his life-work thick upon him. They -discoursed of many things, for the sweep had a wide range -of interests. They spoke of the moorland place as it was -in bygone days; and of the learned Professor whose -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>eulogies first put it into fashion; of the lectures on Science -delivered by this latter; and of the way in which the -spring first shows itself in the lower copses while it is still -winter on our heights. The sweep knew a dell where the -primroses were always a month in advance of any other -spot. He had a soul for primroses, unlike Wordsworth’s -horrible Peter—which reminds me of the delicious remark -made to Loki’s young mistress by an old pensioner in -Chelsea Gardens. He led her to the plot he cultivated for -himself, with all the childish eagerness of the aged, and -pointed to a single yellow crocus, blown this -way and that by the wind, for it was a shrewish -day. “Look at it, Missie!” he cried. “It’s -as playful as a kitten.”</p> - -<div class='figleft id006'> -<img src='images/image060.jpg' alt='house exterior' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We do not know at what hour in the bleak late -February morning the little box was left in the -porch. It was found there by the -earliest maid, and brought to the Master -of the House with his letters in due -course; a box that obviously -had lately contained -carbolic soap. Inside in a -nest of moss, carefully -covered with red bramble -leaves, was a bunch of primroses -tied with red wool, -and the following “verses”:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Beneath the moss and the mast,</div> - <div class='line'>Though the weather has been wet and cold,</div> - <div class='line'>I manage to raise my head</div> - <div class='line'>Down in the Sussex wold.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>Thus it began, speaking in the name of the Primrose, to -enter, rapidly and boldly into the sweep’s personality:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“To-day I passed by the way,</div> - <div class='line'>So I stayed and picked you a few,</div> - <div class='line'>To show I do not forget</div> - <div class='line'>The chat I had with you.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Here the muse got a little tired; but it ended up with -unimpaired cheerfulness:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I hope you are hale and well</div> - <div class='line'>And now I must say Addue,</div> - <div class='line in12'>Yours respectfully,</div> - <div class='line in26'>STAR.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Over the page there was a charming P.S.:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>“Perhaps you have younger fingers</div> - <div class='line in4'>The flowers to unfold,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Mine are rather clumsy</div> - <div class='line in4'>Being big and old.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Pleasant Hours,</div> - <div class='line'>Live long.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It is the kind of little incident that seems to happen at -Villino Loki, where animals and human beings are queer -and unexpected, and live together in simplicity and cheerfulness.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span> - <h2 class='c015'>V</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Travelling along the pleasant path of life, on the -reverse side of the hill, the downward course ‹how graphic -is the French of it for the later and “smaller half” of our -allotted span: <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sur le retour</span></i>›, there is a tendency to dwell -more upon memories and proportionately less on ambitions. -The prospect now ahead, placid and mellowed as it may -be, naturally dwindles to narrower margins. Its interest -is more of the immediate order; deals mostly with hopes -and doings of the coming season. And, the circle of -recollection widening, things distant in the past appeal -with proportionate insistency to the mind’s eye.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>“DREAMING BACKWARDS”</div> - -<p class='c008'>I believe this is the case with all thinking creatures ‹says -Loki’s Grandpa—who has fallen into a reminiscent mood›. -With one whose lazy and musing propensities, whose -delight in day-dreams has proved his paramount weakness, -the habit of “dreaming backwards” and hunting for old -impressions has become as haunting, in these years of the -sixth decade, as was, in salad days, the “dreaming -forward” and the straining for a sight of things still below -the horizon.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For instance: in a life which has always been one of -constant book-companionship, the printed passages which -most delight me are those which, having been first read in -another age and re-discovered in this one, bring back a -pulse of some long forgotten impression. The impression -may be one that sober and critical memory does not record -as having been so particularly enthralling at the time—yet -it now comes back with a subtle fragrance all its own.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The long darkness of winter provides the richest reading -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>hours. And if the page-turning is by the side -of a wood fire—as happens on this, the coldest -day of the year—if it is in a deep armchair -with the lamp throwing its quiet rays over -one’s shoulder, why, it is apt to become interspersed -with long spells of wide-eyed dreaming. -The fire burns with that special clearness, -that kind of conscious eagerness -which one observes inside the -hearth upon a -keen frosty night. -In the town a -frosty night is but -a cold night. But -here, on our country -hill-side, when -winter, albeit officially -over, is in -reality still with -us, a frosty night -inevitably turns -our thoughts to -the threatened hopes of the garden.</p> - -<div class='figleft id013'> -<img src='images/image063.jpg' alt='view of garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Now, as one who knows practically -nought of the gardener’s “Arte and -Mysterie,” my interest in the matter is of the -irresponsible kind. I look forward, of course, and -keenly, to the satisfying display, first of our sappy, -turgid fragrant Hyacinth beds in the Dutch Garden ‹somehow, -the Dutch Garden seems to belong more particularly -to my own side of the Villino—to be a precinct -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>of my study in fact› than to the proud-pied array of -the subsequent Tulips, nodding in the breeze over their -bed of close clustering Forget-me-Nots. This is the annual -treat provided in the spring—for Grandpa’s especial -behoof at Villino Loki—by the industrious care of the -knowledgeable ladies. Nevertheless, as I say, my interest -is of the general order; not of details; not of ways and -means. I expect, in the maturity of every season, -delightful achievements, and find them; but I take little -part in their planning. I am of no use for device and not -called upon in council. I thankfully enjoy the results; -and this is perhaps not the worst part the Master of the -House could play in the year’s transaction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Only on two occasions have I volunteered a suggestion -with regard to planting—and both are related to early, very -early, reminiscences.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Creepers of all sorts we have in profusion. Ivy, of -course, and Jessamine and Honeysuckle, and the gorgeous, -if short-lived, Virginia-Ampilopsis its name, I believe. But -there is one thing, I pointed out, I must have also, and -that is the blue clustering, the incomparably fragrant -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Glycine</span></i> of my early childhood’s days. Wisteria is its proper -English name.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Odoriferous bushes, again, we have, of every description. -Ribes, Cassia, Gummy Cistus, what not?—lurk in ambuscade -at the turning of paths to waylay you with their gush -of essence, not to speak of the Azaleas in their banks; but -all these perfumes, in their subtleness, belong to the middle -years. No memories of the complete freshness of time -cleave to them such as belong to the simple Sweet -Briar.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span> -<img src='images/image065.jpg' alt='outside entrance to house' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>So, now, the two rooted creatures of the Villino, which -may be said to exist there more -specially for the behoof of Loki’s -Grandpa, are the Briar -bushes at the end of the -Lily Walk and by the -<i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Schöne Aussicht</span></i>, and the -still tender but promising -Wisteria climbers in the -re-entering and most sheltered -corner of his study -walls.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>FLOWER LOVES OF CHILDHOOD</div> - -<p class='c008'>And it is for those young -hopeful Wisterias that on -this frosty night I feel a -concern. Last year we had -a score or so of purple -clusters; we look to a -goodly increase during the -coming <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Renouveau</span></i>.—‹You -perceive the old, obsolete -French word for Spring -comes back of itself!› The -anticipation of the near -future, within the shrinking -vista of coming pleasures, elicits -as usual a return to the widening -past. In this case the past that is -recalled is that of a childhood spent in -France.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>The book lies forgotten on my knee. The brown -Meerschaum grows cold in my hand. My eyes, lost in -musings among the flame-fringed logs, now peer beyond -the past half-century—at a time which seems verily as far -distant and as little related to the present as that year 1636 -stamped and still faintly discernible on the antique cast-iron -backplate of the fireplace.... I see a farm-house in a -village of that province which in ancient days was known -as Ile-de-France ‹I hate your modern régime <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">départements</span></i>›, -by name Mesnil-le-Roy; not far distant from Mantes, the -natty little town on the upper and green-watered Seine, -generally adverted to as <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mantes-la-Jolie</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>GLYCINE!</div> - -<p class='c008'>Therein, during nearly a whole year, for reasons of delicate -health, resided a certain very small English boy—French -enough in those tender years. In this delectable old place, -so full of good-smelling things in their seasons: hay, and -grain, and fruit, and at all times the health-restoring cow, -the house was in the spring-time covered with Glycine. -And with the adorable Glycine the small boy, who loved -flowers as much as milk and fruits and beasts, fell forthwith -in love.</p> - -<p class='c008'>How that coquettish Jappy plant came originally to -find a footing in so rustic a corner as Mesnil-le-Roy is -more than I can account for. Your French peasant is -not, as a rule, addicted to the delights of flower raising; -and, in those distant days, Wisteria was still something -of a rarity anywhere. But there it was, already in -the sturdiest strength of its age, embracing the old -walls, forcing its fibrous wood into every cranny of the -greystone, framing every window, striving up the chimney -stacks—and filling the air with honey sweetness. It must -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>have taken at least two score years to reach such a -size.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With the English boy, then barely four, it was a first love. -He feasted on it with his every sense. From morning till -eve he would be sucking the base of some blue corolla -plucked from its calyx, for the sake of that intense sweetness -to which the thing owes its Gallic name of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Glycine</span></i>; -he would, whenever he could, run round and rejoice his -eyes with the delicacies of pale green and purple, drink in -the scent, and listen hypnotized to the never-ceasing buzz -of honey-seekers in the sunshine. And, in the morning, -his first thought, as he crept out of his small truckle-bed, -was to go and plunge his hands into the dew that glittered -upon these Glycine branches nodding in from every side -at the mansarde window.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Like all first loves it was, as you see, violent. Well do I -remember how, for months after he was removed back into -the Paris house, the small boy would ply his mother with -the yearning question, infantilely incorrect but vernacular: -“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Quand que nous retournerons aux Glycines, Maman?</span></i>” -always to receive the non-committal but consoling:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tantôt ... tantôt.</span></i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This “<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tantôt</span>” is the wonderful “by-and-by” which never -comes to be!</p> - -<p class='c008'>And like all first loves this one was utterly forgotten in -later years—to reappear, however, in the sere and yellow of -age. For years a many, a purple Wisteria spreading about -the eaves of a south-country house, was to me only a -purple Wisteria. It was a creeper, and it was nothing -more. It was not a “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Glycine</span></i>” until I had a creepered wall -of my own. Then it surged before imagination’s eye with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>all the glamour of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les premières amours</span></i>, to which, in -accordance with the old French saw, “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">on en revient -toujours</span></i>.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now, therefore, at Villino Loki, nothing will serve but a -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Glycine</span></i> to creep along those walls which are more especially -my own; to embrace my south windows and nod in -at the casement. And the suave-breathed Eastern beauty, -first brought over to the West and god-fathered by Professor -Wister, will privily remain Glycine for me; although -I may draw the indulgent visitor’s attention to her under -the better-known name of Wisteria Sinensis.—I have, by the -way, an ever-ready pretext; for I learn from “The Language -of Flowers” that the special significance of this -blossom is “Welcome, fair stranger!” I mean to have a -profusion of it, for old sake’s sake. Besides, is it not meet -that Loki should not be deprived, during his villeggiatura, of -the company of some Chinese living thing?</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span> - <h2 class='c015'>VI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image069.jpg' alt='view of house from distance' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Strange how sharp and detailed will some of our -very early memories remain in after life, when even important -scenes of our later years are so easily forgotten! That -old farm of Mesnil-le-Roy is still a clear picture, vignetted, -so to speak, upon grey pages of oblivion.... I can yet see -the orchard, strewn with myriad fallen apples—the byres, -whereto at sundown returned the slow-pacing, dreamy, -placid-eyed milch cows; the giant walnut-tree, with one of -its main branches blasted by lightning—blasted on the stormy -night, during which “thunder had fallen” freely ‹as the little -boy heard the labourers say, awe-struck, in the morning; -but during which he had slept under the brown-tiled roof -without the slightest disturbance›.... I can see the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Four -Banal</span></i>, that co-operative bread-oven, a relic of mediæval -institutions, which was still common enough in those days; -where you could have such an entrancing view of lambent -blue flames lined with yellow when the door stood open to -receive the unbaked loaves; and where the air smelt so -divinely of hot wheaten crust when they were removed on -completion....</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image070.jpg' alt='little boy with two adults' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was, by the way, on that alluring -spot—the boy used to find -his way there regularly on the -days when <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">on cuisait</span></i>—that -he heard a certain remark, -which to his child ears had -no special meaning, but -which remained on memory’s -tablets to assume later an -interesting significance. The -country folk were very kind. The little English boy, left for -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>the good of his health at the farm of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">père Pelletier</span></i>, was -known to everybody; was accepted and treated as one -of the community. Rarely did he stroll, as might any -roaming puppy dog, into an open door of the village -without being supplied with a generous sup of milk, or a -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tartine de raisiné</span></i>; or again, in season, with a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pomme -cuite</span></i>. The roasted apple, be it said, browning and -lusciously oozing caramel, was a standing affair in that -old-world village. There -was, however, on that -day, a benighted wayfarer -who obviously could not -reconcile with these rustic -surroundings the -yellow-haired, barelegged -little boy gravely gazing -at the glowing oven.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">D’ousqui sort, ce gosse-là?</span></i>” -‹for which barbarous -lingo I take -leave to give as an -equivalent: Who’s the -kid?› asked the man. -And the answer came: -“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ça?—ca, mais le p’tit -godem, donc</span></i>.” ‹That—why, -that’s the little “goddam.”›</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE LITTLE GODEM</div> - -<p class='c008'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le petit godem!...</span></i> Such was the -name under which that young -innocent was known at Mesnil-le-Roy, -and, be it understood, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>in all cordiality and benevolence! Of a certainty not -one of those excellent people had the remotest idea of -the meaning of their “godem:” with them it was only the -established equivalent for English.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The term is a noun, not an expletive, which has come -down through five centuries—from the days, in fact, of the -English occupation of France. Among the written records -of those stirring times we come across many a passage in -which a Duguesclin, a Maid of Orleans, or a Dunois is -heard to mention hatefully “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les godems</span></i>,” or “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les godons -d’Angleterre</span></i>.” Now, all that fertile country of the Vexin, -the Ile-de-France and the Beauce, of which the fat farm -land of my old <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">père Pelletier</span></i> was so fair a sample, was -obstinately fought for by the English for the best part of a -century. Mantes-la-Jolie—now mainly famed for its river -terraces, its sweet water grapes and its savoury <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">matelottes</span></i> -or eel stews—was once a fortified place of note, taken and -retaken by French and English more than once; but -finally captured ‹in 1418› by the noble Talbot, Earl of -Shrewsbury, the Achilles of England, as the French -themselves dubbed him, and firmly held by the “godems” -for more than thirty years. To have heard that mispleasing -word used dispassionately, merely as a -substantive, is indeed a link with the past.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Strange paths of the musing thought, winding from -Wisteria Sinensis to the days of our conquering English -archer!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>I spoke of these childhood memories as of oddly clear -pictures emerging here and there out of grey mists of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>oblivion. Another now detaches itself in the same way -from the clouds of the very distant past.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It belongs to the following summer. A perfume of -Glycine still lingers about it, no doubt; for there again, -upon the stone and through the curvetting iron-work -balconies of the fair Louis XV house overlooking the park -of <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud, pale silvery green -leafage, with here and there a -cluster of faint blue, spreads in a -well-regulated display—widely -different, though, from the foaming -profusion of the Mesnil. But -the impression more specially -associated with those happy <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> -Cloud days is the incense of -the Sweet Briar.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>SWEET EGLANTINE</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image072.jpg' alt='outside of window with small balcony' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>What has happened—I pause and -ask indignantly—to the Sweet-Briar -of the world? Whither -has the celestial, the entrancing -scent of the true Eglantine -vanished? Our twentieth century -Briar is still—there is no -gainsaying it—a delicious being, -in its ephemeral exquisiteness of -flower and its pleasant, if but -slightly more lasting, leafy odour. -But never, in subsequent life, -have I captured again the sudden delight first brought to -my childish nostrils by a puff of breeze that had passed over -some hidden clump of sweet Eglantine. This first impression -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>is connected with certain grassy alleys piercing deep the grand -old-world park, or rather forest, of <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud, which were my -favourite playgrounds in the early sixties of the last century. -‹There is something distinctly suitable to the status of -Grandpa, albeit merely “brevet” rank as in my case, in -memorising thus about a past century!›</p> - -<div class='figleft id014'> -<img src='images/image073.jpg' alt='flowers on stem' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>I can see the five-year-old arrested short upon the turf, in -the midst of the hot pursuit of a blue butterfly, by his first -whiff in life of Rosa Rubiginosa: so might a setter halt and -stiffen, having got the wind of a grouse.—The source of the -fitful stream of fragrance was hidden among -clumps of forbidding brambles. Besides, -there was no following the trail: it seemed -ubiquitous. Like some Puck in his most -tantalising mood, it would lead up and down, -up and down—luring now to right, now to left, -now straight ahead, anon seemed to whisk -past from behind, until, in a kind of “dwam,” -the child would give up the baffled purpose and -pensively trot home by the nurse’s side.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For days the ambrosial fragrance dwelt in -his little turned-up nose. It haunted the -sensitive child-mind much as, later, in budding -manhood, the remembrance of some enchanting -face seen for an instant and then lost -to sight. He had at last to confide his -hopeless passion to his mother. It smelt -‹he explained› like the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pomme Reinette</span></i> of -the dessert plates, but oh, so much, so much -better! The reference to the well-known and -excellent variety of apple left no doubt about -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>the nature of the plant which had exhaled the elusive trails -of perfume. “Reinette” became the accepted name of the -woodland charmer and the hunt for Reinette bushes in -the more devious paths of the wood a daily occupation.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>With these expeditions is associated another first acquaintance -that made a singularly strong impression.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was, at the end of one of those heavenly grassed -alleys, a group of brushwood greenery from which the -unmistakable fragrance flowed deliciously across the path -when the wind blew from a certain direction—I should say, -now, from the west; for the path led to Garches, a place -which, some eight years later, during the siege of Paris, -became notorious as the scene of some very ferocious -bayonet fighting. Undoubtedly there was a wealth of -the desirable “Reinette” amid that underwood. But, to -the mild surprise of nurse or mother, or whoever it might -be who escorted the child upon his daily constitutional in -the wood, nothing could induce him to draw that particular -cover. He developed an ingenuity ‹or rather should it be -called a disingenuousness› for pushing investigations or -carrying on a game in paths that gave this spot a wide -berth. Whenever possible, even, he found some specious -argument for avoiding the Garches-ward alley altogether. -No one, I believe, ever knew the reason.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE BLANCHING, LAUGHING ASPEN</div> - -<p class='c008'>The fact is that, hard thereby, as if standing sentinel, -rose a company of tall, slender Aspens—trees that, in a -small boy’s estimation, did not behave as mere trees -should. He had realised this, with a suddenness that -first made his heart jump, and then rooted him on the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>spot, one day when, having caught up his scent, he was -rushing with a whoop to the capture of his bush. The -Aspens, up to that instant quite placid, palely green, -grew all at once white with excitement and nodded their -heads to each other; after which came the noise of their -leaves; not the honest rustle of green -trees, but derisive laughter; sounds, too, -weirdly human, ringing as though in -mockery of the discomfited invader.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mark you, there is something decidedly -uncanny in the deportment of the Aspen -and its gracile, long-stalked trembling -leaves, the white undersides of which -any puff of wind exposes simultaneously -to view—turning, on the instant, -the whole of the green to foaming -silver. There was no doubt about -the matter then. These paling and -odd rustling trees completely -overawed Master Louis ‹Louis -is Loki’s grandpa’s baptismal -name, now sunk into disuse›, -though, in his budding masculine -pride, he kept the secret of his -abhorrence very close within his -own little bosom.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image075.jpg' alt='child in front of trees' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>On one occasion, however, when he had had to make -up his mind to walk past the blanching, murmuring group -unless he were prepared ‹which he was not› to explain -the nature of his objection, he asked, with a fair show -of indifference, what manner of tree it was which “made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>that funny noise: he-he-he-he.” “One would say,” he -added with elaborate airiness, “that they make a mock -of one!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>When informed that “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tremble</span></i>” was the name thereof, -he became sunk in fresh unpleasant musings, and was -fain to look back, fascinated, over his shoulder, each -time the chuckling called after him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The sound of the breeze, as it ruffles through the leaves -of “Populus tremula,” is like nothing else in the woods. -I have always retained my interest in the “Tremble” of -my young days; and in the course of time it became -one of delight instead of terror. I would give a good -deal to have one of my own: one living not far from -my bedroom window. It would be good to hear it -laughing gently outside, when one first woke, and to know -that it was powdering itself, so to speak, under the -rays of the rising sun. But there are no Aspens in our -part of the world. And, as for planting a council of -these in the hope of silvery rustle and light effects, -why, it is perhaps somewhat too late in the day! But -I still seem to hear and see them with the ears and -eyes of that dawning spring of life in the <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud days.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span> - <h2 class='c015'>VII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Poor little old town of <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Clodoald! In later years -I spent an afternoon hunting up its distant remembrances. -Alas, but it was like looking at some worn-out engraving, -some faded dun picture once known in all its -brilliancy.</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/image077.jpg' alt='stone feature in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Obliterated was the dainty white stone Palace; -scene of the revelries and the bright-coloured -elegancies of the Regent; favourite -retreat of Marie Antoinette; theatre -of the “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dix-huit Brumaire</span></i>” drama; -early home of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Aiglon</span></i>! The Château -de <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud, the summer residence -of the last Napoleon, -had been -burned -by the -Prussians—even as they -burned the bulk of the -town—in 1870.<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c018'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> - -<p class='c008'>Many a time, when, not -so many years ago, we could read -daily the shameless slander, the wilful calumnies, -of the German press on the subject of the -“barbarity” of our soldiers during the South -African wars, has my mind flown back to the picture of -charred and jagged ruins standing against the rise of the hill -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>which once met my eyes when I looked for the quiet, happy -prospect I had known.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE OLD PARK OF <abbr title='Saint'>ST.</abbr> CLOUD</div> - -<p class='c008'>The town, when I last saw it, and its ancient church had -been rebuilt; but the Palace was a dismal ruin; and the park -seemed scald and deserted. Gone also, worst luck of all, -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lanterne de Diogène</span></i>—the quaint tower at the river-side -opening of the main alley, built in the pleasure-loving days -of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louis-le-Bien-Aimé</span></i>. ‹It was called a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mirador</span></i>: I believe -a structure of that kind is now known as “gazebo”—deplorable -word!› From the top of it a magnificent -panorama of distant Paris could be descried.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The neighbourhood of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la Lanterne</span></i> was the great trysting -place of nurses and guardsmen, and the playing ground of -children. On that day of back-dreaming exploration, I had -been looking forward, with a kind of tenderness, to gazing -once more on its bizarre shape. There is a well-known -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ronde</span></i>, dating it would seem from the Middle Ages:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Tour, prends garde—</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Tour, prends garde—</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De te laisser abattre!</span></i>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>which is sung by the Gallic infant, in a game somewhat -cognate to our: “Here we go round the Mulberry -Bush!” It used to be danced under the shadow of this -tower; and, in a child’s way, I had always instinctively -associated the unnamed stronghold of the ballad with this -peaceful erection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Alas for the dear old <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tour</span></i>, it was destined to be laid low, -after all, in spite of our eager warning! The terrace on -which it was built was seized as the emplacement of a -battery of heavy Krupps, for the bombardment of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>obstinate capital yonder away. The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lanterne de Diogène</span></i>, -in its white stone and clear outline against the trees, -offered too distinct a mark to the answering gunners to be -tolerated. It had to be levelled. It was never -rebuilt. I could find nothing appertaining to it -but the grass bordered slabs of its foundations....</p> - -<div class='figright id012'> -<img src='images/image079.jpg' alt='tower rising from trees' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Lost, too, to me was the particular alley redolent -of the memory of both <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Reinette</span></i> and -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tremble</span></i>; no doubt absorbed in some of the -metalled motor roads that now traverse the -park.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grande Cascade</span></i>, however, which Lepautre, -by order of Louis XIV, devised for the -glorification of the Duke of Orleans’ future -home, was still there. Its tiers of white stone -steps over which the water, on <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grandes Eaux</span></i> -days, used to pour down, foaming yet disciplined, -in symmetric balustered channels, -between ranks of allegoric statues standing -like guards and lacqueys upon a royal stairway—still descend, -framed by huge umbrageous elms, from the middle -height of the hill to the wide marble <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bassin</span></i> on the river level. -How fully the great garden designers of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Roy Soleil</span></i> -understood the life-giving virtue of moving waters in their -grandiose if freezing conception of the formal landscape! -Here, in the midst of the nature-made beauty of the old -Park—where there had been forests, more or less wild, ever -since Gaulish days—these architectural waters have a -startling effect; incongruous no doubt, but the artificiality -of the stone-work has been mellowed by two centuries -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>and more of summer suns and winter frosts. And these -monumental streams are beyond compare more beautiful -than their prototypes of Versailles and the copies erected -in other Continental residences in imitation of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand -Règne</span></i> manner. This Lepautre was a man of fine power, -in the style of his age. But he had also the servile fawning -mind of that age. Soon after the triumph of the <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud -Park, he could find it in him to die in three days of -jaundiced envy because some other design of his had -been passed over by the King’s eye in favour of one -by Mansard! Yea, to die of heart-burning, even as that -greater man, Jean Racine, who, some years later, gave up -the ghost in despair over a harsh remark passed by his -royal master in a fit of temper; even as Vatel, the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maître d’hotel</span></i>, who fell upon his sword, and put an -end to a life dishonoured by the failure of the fish at the -celebrated Chantilly banquet!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yes, the old cascade, at least, was still there, that once -had filled the five-year-old’s imagination with a sense of -the supreme in earthly grandeur. The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Jet Géant</span></i>, also; -that spouting jet that reaches a height of ... but no, -why cramp the stupendous into figures? Figures are -finite things. The shaft of hissing water, in those days -of confident wondering, reached the limit of the conceivable -before it fell down again, in its thundering -showers, through the iridescent bow, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">arc-en-ciel</span></i>, -that could always be looked for when the sun shone -on it at the sinking hour. But, alas, for the middle-aged -visitor who sought for a taste again, however -transient, of the noisy joyousness, the brilliance, the -colour, locked up in memory’s casket!... The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cidevant</span></i> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>royal park—now <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Propriété Nationale</span></i>, and duly stamped, -wherever room can be found for it, with the priggish and -lying motto: <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité</span></i> was dull and drab -and neglected: silent and morose. The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Grand Monarque’s</span></i> -extravagances in stone seemed positively shamefaced. The -whole place—this artificial park within the ancient woods—had -the melancholy of things outworn and disowned.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>FIRELIGHT PICTURES</div> - -<p class='c008'>Yet here, in my armchair by the firelight, up on the side -of our dear Surrey hill, I can still picture -sharply to myself the summer life of <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud -as it was in the careless precarious days -of the Second Empire.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image081.jpg' alt='children outdoors' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The Empress Eugénie, then a young wife, -and one of the most beautiful women of -Europe, lived at the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Château</span></i>. And the -Park, though thrown open to the people, was -kept trim with jealous care. -Roads generously sanded, -lawns watered and mown -with systematic care, parterres -ever bright with -flowers, all was marvellously -different then from -the present day shabbiness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I seem to see again, even with -almost a lifetime’s experience intervening, -the vivid scene impressed on -the observant and eager eyes of the child. -The gay-hued crowds of ladies in all the then elegance of -scuttle bonnets and crinolines; the bevies of children, of every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>class, but all joyous and noisy; the bands of marching -youths, buzzing the popular airs of the year on the -euphonious <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mirliton</span></i>; the siege of every “kiosk” where -the wafers hot from the mould, or the cool lemonade, -were dispensed; the swans, stately but voracious, being -fed upon the great pond; the bright coloured beribboned -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nourrices</span></i> squatting with the nurslings on the circular benches -within sound of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">musique militaire</span></i>, and the inevitable giant -bearded <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sapeur</span></i> in flirtatious attendance; the quite too -beautiful officers with tight waists, waxed moustaches and -swaying gold epaulets—what not?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Before the great gates, solemnly walking to and fro, or -standing picturesquely sentinel, there never wanted a party -of veteran grenadiers in their towering brass-fronted bearskins -and white cross-belts to produce the desired “Old -Guard” effect. Or it might be heavy-moustached -troopers, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Guides</span></i>, with sweeping plumes over the huge -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">colback</span></i>; with pelisses of fur and eagle-embroidered -sabretaches, copying, on their side, the grim appearance of -Napoleon’s ‹the real one’s› body guard.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The whole place, indeed, was pervaded with the “immense” -uniforms of those pretorians: those long service professional -soldiers for whose showy maintenance the Imperial -Government stinted an otherwise dwindling national army—disastrous -army, destined, despite its gallantry, to be -so soon decimated, swept away, by the legions of <i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">das -Volk in Waffen</span></i> wielded with the ruthless mastery of -German generalship!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>FORGOTTEN BRILLIANCIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>For such as have only known France since the strictly -utilitarian days that followed the great <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">débâcle</span></i>; days -when the notion that any kind of smartness is incompatible -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>with “republican efficiency seems to have become an -obsession” it is difficult to realize the gilded magnificence -of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Garde Impériale</span></i>. Still less, perhaps, in these anti-militarist -times, the idolatry of the people for its <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beaux -militaires</span></i>. Of a truth, on a sunny day, they brightened -the park walks almost as much as the Geraniums in the -great stone urns, or the forbidden golden fruit in the orange -tubs!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The authorities were sedulous, especially in such places as -<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud, to keep the pleasant side—the pride, the pomp -and circumstance—of soldiering in evidence. The happy -little town was awakened in the morning, was apprised of -noon and again of sundown, by the incredibly joyous “sonneries” -of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lanciers de l’Impératrice</span></i>, whose trumpeters -specially gathered from far and wide, could sound all -tuckets and points of war in an admirable harmony of high -overtones blended with the noble, grave sounds of the -ordinary calls.... Entrancing music to the little boy, in the -glycine-clad house of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rue du Château</span></i>, who would start -awake, hearken, and then turn round and go to sleep -again in great content. The drums of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">garde montante</span></i>, -headed by the olympian <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tambour-major</span></i>, sedulously tossing -and twirling his cane, daily rattled the window panes as in -great pomp it ascended the hill, palace-wards. It never -failed to draw the same crowd to the same doorsteps. -Estaffettes clattered hourly along the narrow paved streets, -on their way to and from Paris; glittering, clinking, full -of official importance, and with an eagerness no doubt -wholly uncalled for by any existing necessity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All that colour and bustle and pleasant make-believe of -strength and “tradition,” was typical of all one has since -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>learned to associate with that Empire on the high road to -ruin. But it had its attractive side for those who had not -found it out; and, seen through the prism of distance, a -picturesqueness that modern France, so systematically -democratized, is scarce like to know again.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span> - <h2 class='c015'>VIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The ways of our musings are as devious, as unexpected, -as those of a general conversation: there is no presiding -spirit to keep us to a standing topic! This -topic, with us, should be “Our Sentimental -Garden.” And our tattle should, really, -be connected, even if but distantly; with -plants or scenery; with country life and -friends ‹or foes›; with emotions or reminiscences -plausibly evoked by the flower -side of life. Happily it is pleasant enough -to be brought back to the right -theme; as I am just now by a -thought of the head-line.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image085.jpg' alt='two people by tall tree' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>REDISCOVERED DELIGHTS</div> - -<p class='c008'>To one who has taken somewhat -late in the day to a life in the country, -most of its interests seem to be a rediscovery -of early, simple, and intimate -delights; to be connected with -impressions long forgotten.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is an episode in the biography -of Jean-Jacques Rousseau which, -if I remember aright, bears upon this -point. I have not got the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Confessions</span></i> -by me—it is, no doubt, in that cynical -autobiography that the anecdote -is recorded—nor, indeed, any other -work of that exceedingly antipathetic -writer. ‹This is the usual course: the books -I require for reference when in the country happen oftener -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>than not to be on my London bookshelves; and <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">mutatis -mutandis, vice versa</span></i>!› The precise wording cannot in -consequence be given here. But it is a small matter; the -story is to this effect:</p> - -<p class='c008'>In his young and singularly impressionable days, Jean-Jacques -was taking a country walk with one very near to -his heart. At a certain spot of the garden, or the wood, -in which he was tasting the subtle joys of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">solitude à -deux</span></i>, the lady suddenly exclaimed:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“See, yonder is a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pervenche</span></i>!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Indeed,” returned the youth, little intent then, upon the -beauties of the outer world, and gazed absently upon the -tender blue peeping out of the tender green. “So, that is -a periwinkle?” And he resumed the thread of his interrupted -discourse.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But, later—much later on, in twilight days of his life—some -one happened again to say in his hearing:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“See—a Periwinkle!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>And Rousseau, now old Jean-Jacques, amazed the company -by an almost incredible exhibition of sensibility.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Une pervenche!</span></i> Where—where?” he called out, -throwing himself down on his knees to look for the flower, -with eyes bathed in tears.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If this is not quite the exact tale, it matters, as I said above, -very little. It is the story, in its essence. The age of -sensibility ‹praise be to our fate!› is no longer with us; -but there is something permanently true in the picture it -sets forth. To the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">philosophe</span></i> of mature years the mere -word <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pervenche</span></i> suddenly recalled, in a poignantly intimate -manner, the first love of his spring-time. <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Veteris vestigia -flammae!</span></i></p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>And we are not to wonder that the echo from a world irremediably -lost should have affected the morose, self-centred -reprobate in an uncontrollable manner. I venture to think -that, with the least sentimental of us, the sudden -rediscovery, of some long forgotten youthful impression -can hardly fail to evoke, however transiently, a certain -dreamy emotion: half pleasure, half melancholy.</p> - -<div class='figright id012'> -<img src='images/image087.jpg' alt='child outside with hoop' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Now, in the case of the Master of the House—and he -is thankful to realize it—early memories of delight in -flowers and such things are associated, not with the -troublous times of young manhood’s protean heart affairs, -not with the <i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Sturm und Drang</span></i> days of the dawning -moustache, but rather with the quaintly fanciful inner life -of boyhood. They come back borne upon the colours -and odours of such early friends as Lilac and Acacia; -common Wallflower—<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Giroflée</span></i>, our Gillyflower; -wild Violet and Primrose—<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">gallicé “Coucou”</span></i>; -Hollyhock or rather <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rose-trémière</span></i>; Lily-of-the-Valley; -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Muguet</span></i>.... It is the old French -name that most readily slips from my pen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Owing perhaps to a childhood spent almost -wholly in France, and to the completeness of the -break that necessarily ensued when the English -born but French nurtured boy was at last allowed -back to his own and proper land, all these memories -seem to belong to a world utterly apart—to something -rather fantastic, unconnected with later life -and interests. Moreover, being of childhood and -of a time when the world seemed uniformly kind, -they retain an allurement all their own. One -pleasant recollection of those far-off days does not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>hook on to others, bitter, regretful, or let it be even merely -ruffling ... inevitable chain of responsible experiences!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Our early memories are like works of art: they have -a way of perpetuating in beauty things that perhaps were -not really beautiful in themselves. About them there is -an unconscious selection which, having been made by -a mind still essentially serene, has contrived a subtle -harmony of all the elements. Upon the pictures of its -store, a child’s memory lays an emphasis strangely -different to that which the critical powers of later growth -would set. And it is this quaint insistence on certain -“odd corners of things” which ‹among other reasons› makes -them so dearly personal and private to the older mind.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In my own case, as I have said, they belong to a world -still more remote than the childhood of most men of -“Grandpa” status—a world which has not even the link -of language to connect it with the present!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Paradoxically, this is perhaps the reason why I take so -much pleasure in finding these happy-hued and odorous -things now rising, and living under their right English -names, in a garden of my own. To the other denizens of -Villino Loki they are part of the excellent general company -foregathering in our garden: but to me they are in many -ways my intimates. We seem “to have known things -together”; things doubtless of no importance, but pleasant -to recall in casual intercourse.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span> - <h2 class='c015'>IX</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id012'> -<img src='images/image089.jpg' alt='flowers on branch' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The Lilac and Acacia, for instance, were the -flower-bearers of the tree-planted playground -of that jocund old school where I received the -first rudiments of education: the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution -Delescluze</span></i>, then situate in a kind of backwater -of the faubourg <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Honoré</span> at the angle facing -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Palais de l’Elysée</span></i>. It has, alas long since -been swept away to make room for modern -mansions. This ancient <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution</span></i>, or preparatory -school, would seem to have dated from the distant -days, early Louis XV probably, when the north -side of the then lengthening noble <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">faubourg</span></i> must -still have been occupied by meadows and orchards.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='figright id012'> -<img src='images/image089a.jpg' alt='branches with leaves' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>By the way, it has never occurred to me before to -look up that little topographical matter authoritatively. -I do so now. I have here a copy of a wonderful -work, the “perspective” map of Paris as it stood -in the ’thirties, of the eighteenth century. It is called -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Plan de Turgot</span></i>, having been surveyed, and -engraved, in lavishly decorative style, -by order of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Louis-le-Bien-Aimé</span></i>, under -the care of the celebrated <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Prévost -des Marchands</span></i>. The book is quite -the most fascinating of its kind I know—and I -think I have handled as goodly a number of -such works as any man alive. ‹The nearest -approach to it, in point of what one may -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>call picturesque perspicuity, is the wonderful bird’s-eye -view of Edinburgh set down by James Gordon of Rothiemay, -and engraved at Amsterdam by F. de Wit, about -a century earlier.› This plan of Turgot is an elaborate -affair indeed—an atlas of twenty large sheets, showing -practically every individual house of any importance. -Would we had such a work in existence dealing with -Georgian London!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, to investigate.... Aye, here are the orchards and -market gardens, beginning at the very back of a narrow -line of houses, covering all the ground of what nowadays -is a close network of stone-fronted streets! Here stands -the Hôtel d’Evreux, the last, moving westward, of that -array of lordly mansions: the Hôtels de Montbazon, de -Guébrian, de Charost, de Duras.... A few of these -patrician dwellings, each with their own formal gardens -stretching southwards to the Champs Elysées, have retained -to our own times their dignity unimpaired. But -where are now scattered most of these grand French -family names, since the tornado of the great Revolution? -But, to our map.... Yes, this Hôtel d’Evreux—whilom -appanage of Madame de Pompadour, now the aforesaid -Palais de l’Elysée; residence, in due rotation, of the swift-changing -presidents of the Republic—is here under my finger. -And its position unquestionably fixes, some two hundred -yards westward, that of the now vanished <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution -Delescluze</span></i>, so interesting to me. And here spread themselves -the orchards, of which the existence a moment ago -was, after all, only a matter of surmise!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>PLUM-TREE GUM</div> - -<p class='c008'>My discovery adds particularity now to the remembrance -of that mellow place.... A goodly number of antiquated -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>fruit trees were scattered about the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cour de récréation</span></i>. I -can now carve it, in fancy, out of the cultivated land shown -by the engraver in the most engaging conventional manner, -at the back of the northern street front—an acre or so. -Perhaps a little more; likelier still, a little less: recollections -of this kind have a knack of magnifying affairs. It -is bounded by grey walls, tall and thick, but distinctly -decrepit. The trees were, of course, long past bearing, -through age and neglect; but they were pleasant company, -whether snow-laden, or in summer affording their scanty -shade. Plum trees they were, I should say. At any rate -the rough bark of their boles distilled a kind of brown gum -which was in great demand among us small boys for immediate -consumption; and sedulously scooped out, as soon -as discovered, with the help of the stump end of a steel-pen -nib.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Interspersed among these remnants of the forgotten orchard -were the odd groups of Lilacs and Acacias previously -mentioned. The latter, the Acacias, were tall and above -interference. But strict were the standing orders touching -the bloom of the Lilac, and dire the prospect of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pensum</span></i> -or <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">piquet</span></i> to the youthful scholar who should dare to pluck -the fragrant bunches!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus came the Lilac to assume a character at once sacred—or, -at least, “taboo”—and at the same time perennially -tantalizing. It was long before the realization dawned that -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lilas</span></i> were not the rare and precious blossoms that so -uncompromising a prohibition appeared to proclaim. As -a matter of fact, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lilas</span></i>, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Blanc ou Rose</span></i>, is one of the -commonest of spring objects in France. Almost might it -in its popularity be regarded as the national emblem of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">renouveau</span></i>, much as with us the pallid, delicate Primrose -is held to herald the last of wintry days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The old French name for the latter is <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Primerole</span></i>, suggestive -by its etymological connection with “prime,” of the -youth of the year. We have made of it Prim<i>rose</i>, through -the usual process of popular phonetic adaptation, which -ever tends to make a word sound like something already -familiar. So that the old <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Primerole</span></i>—meaning simply an -early floweret, <i>primula</i>—has become with us “the early -rose”! The French dubbed it <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Primevère</span></i> a learned -equivalent for the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Coucou</span></i> of the rustic tongue, to -symbolize the advent of vernal days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The name brings at once to mind the well-known yearning -lines:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">O Primavera, gioventù dell’ anno!</span></i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">O gioventù, primavera della vita!</span></i>”</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>In France, however, the accepted harbinger of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les beaux -jours</span></i>, is not the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>“Pale cowslip, fit for maiden’s early bier,”</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>not the faint Primula but emphatically the Lilac—the Syringa -Vulgaris; the joyous <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fleur des humbles</span></i>, as contrasted to -the noble Rose.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Oh, gai! vive la rose,</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La rose ... et les lilas!</span></i>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>runs the refrain of olden days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During the last century or two it has grown as common, -almost, around villages as the hawthorn, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Aubépine</span></i> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>itself. But it is perhaps best appreciated in the towns. -While the tender purple bloom lasts, there is scarce too -modest a working home’s window-sill or mantelpiece for -the display of a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">branche de Lilas</span></i> stuck in the gullet of a -water-bottle. And your gay-hearted <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">grisette</span></i> or <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">midinette</span></i>, -early afoot in the streets, will always spend her first <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sou</span></i> -of the day on a sprig of the sweet-breathing rosy cluster.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>LAYLOCKS—LILAS BLANC</div> - -<p class='c008'>One may learn, whilst intent upon other matters, many -unsuspected things about objects even as familiar as -the common “Laylock.” ‹A collection of old letters of -Georgian and very early Victorian days, with which we -have had much to do at one time, show a preference for -this phonetic rendering of the name.› Thus it appears -that a valuable febrifuge “principle” is obtainable from its -fruit; that its wood, veined in pleasing colours and very -fine-grained, is in high request for delicate articles of -turnery and in particular for inlaying; that a perfumed -essence is sometimes distilled from it that is almost indistinguishable -from Rhodes Balsam—and so forth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Those, however, are not the points of interest which have -made it imperative to have a plant or two of “Laylocks” -in our Sentimental Garden. ‹They do fairly well, be it -said, in their own specially sheltered, suntrap corner of -the ground.› No, there is in life an ever-growing motive—old -sake’s sake. Syringa Persica may mean much to the -operative gardener, but it can never mean <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lilas blanc</span></i> ... -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lilas rose</span></i>!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span> - <h2 class='c015'>X</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>As for the Acacias, in that queer old courtyard—distinctly -exotic creatures, aristocrats in the company of those palpable -sons of the soil, the caducous orchard trees—I still -wonder how they ever came there. Their rôle in the life -of the small-boy school seems to have been that of a -butt for cockshies, and thus passively to foster a notable -precision in the use of those small river pebbles with which -the playground was covered. A game, deeply favoured -by the young scholars ‹but not recognized by the authorities› -when Acacias were “in,” consisted in the bringing -down of some selected bunch of fragrant, creamy flowers -from its lofty station with the minimum number of pebbles. -The feat was the subject of wager, the stakes stated and -paid in steel nibs. Nibs—in the tongue of the aborigines, -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">becs-de-plume</span></i>—were accepted as currency and legal tender. -It would be truly interesting to find out how this particular -token of exchange came to be established among -the youthful communities of French elementary schools. -Be it as it may, the convention was hallowed by tradition -“whereof the memory of boy ran not to the contrary.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>GARLANDS AND ACACIAS</div> - -<p class='c008'>When, however, the pale yellow, incense-smelling, honey-tasting -racemes were “out,” the devoted Acacia became -the object of other, slightly different, balistic attentions. -The boys, be it stated, were regularly released from the -durance of bench and desk every hour for some ten -minutes ‹a commendable system with seven to ten year-olds› -during which the courtyard became clamorous as -any aviary. During these short intervals of recreation, -too short to allow of any settled games, a favourite -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>occupation was the adorning of the inaccessible branches -with long streamers of coloured paper, previously manufactured -at home—<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">guirlandes</span></i> by name. These <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">guirlandes</span></i>, -some twenty or thirty feet long, were wound with sedulous -care round a suitable stone, leaving a small length as -trailer; the apparatus was then cast up in a parabola over -the tree-top. If the indirect fire was successful the trailer -caught in the leafage, unrolling the remainder and releasing -the ballasting stone. The most successful shot was, of -course, that which left the streamer properly entangled on -the topmost boughs. Each boy had his chosen and -declared colour, or mixture of colours; and the trophy -remained, flaunting his achievement “in its own tincts” -as long as wind or rain permitted. It afforded the small -breast a distinct satisfaction when, reaching the school of -a morning, the boy could see his pennant still flying in the -breeze....</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such is the strength of the association of ideas that I never -could come upon a roadside plantation of Acacias in the -hot plains of Hungary—where the tree is used as commonly -as in France the Poplar, that inevitable feature of the great -highways—without adorning it in imagination with the -multi-coloured <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">guirlandes</span></i> of my first school.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>If there was no reasonable accounting for the presence of -Acacias at the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution Delescluze</span></i>, the great Poplar, -on the other hand, that raised its height in the very centre -of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cour</span></i>, had a well-authenticated history. A relic -of Revolution days, it was then in its eighth decade, in the -strength of its age; having been planted, at the same time -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>as hundreds of others, as a Tree of Liberty—Populus, -emblematic of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans-culotte</span></i> ascendancy—at the time when -the royal Bastille, emblem of another form of tyranny, was -laid low.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For some cryptic reason, by the way, the democratic -Poplar, which had subsisted through many changes of -régime, and had become undoubtedly too ornamental a -mark of antiquity to be destroyed, was never honoured by -the flights of our banderoles. Perhaps it was a result of -political prejudice, which in France characteristically -affects the views even of scholars at the hornbook stage of -life. Or perhaps it was that the old <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Peuplier</span></i> was the -site of the disciplinary punishment known as <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">piquet</span></i>—the -playground equivalent of our nursery “corner.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>GLAMOUR OF YORE</div> - -<p class='c008'>Poplar and gummy Plum-trees, Lilac and Acacias, courtyard -and indeed the whole <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution</span></i>, had already disappeared -when I bethought myself, for the first time after -so many years of oblivion, to go and gaze upon the scene -once more. It was quite in middle life. I had lately been -reading that sad and strangely affecting work, “Peter -Ibbetson,” the first, and to my mind by far the best, of the -three novels written by Georges du Maurier in the late -autumn of his days. By the thousands who for so many -years had, week after week, enjoyed the delicate humour -and pencilling of the great Punch artist, the book was -received with a favour that paved the way for the greater -popular success of “Trilby.” But I doubt whether it ever -appealed to any denizen of our planet as intimately as to -the Master of the House.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>Those who have read the curiously original novel which, -like so many first attempts at fiction, is autobiographical—autobiographical -as to feelings, if not necessarily as to -facts—may remember his description of the English boy’s -early “French days;” and, later on, of the mature man’s -poignant impressions on revisiting the old playground of -his life. Now, there were so many points of resemblance -between the surroundings of Du Maurier’s hero’s childhood -and my own; so many allusions to the kind of -things and the kind of people I had once been familiar -with but, as time flowed on, had dismissed from mind as -removed from real existence and new workaday points of -view; they were presented, moreover, in so sympathetic a -manner, that one need hardly wonder at the sudden resolve -that rose within me, to go and look up the old place again.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such a desire, when it comes, has something of the twist -of hunger about it—it is <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">une fringale</span></i>, to use a word for -which, oddly enough, we have no counterpart. But, alas! -delight in scenes of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beau temps jadis</span></i> is not to be -recaptured! It may but be espied in fitful, elusive glimpses. -The world has moved on and the <i>genius loci</i> has fled. -Have you ever found out that the return, after many -years, to a place oft dreamed of until then and with never-failing -tenderness, besides leaving you blankly unsatisfied, -seems to have killed the glamour, to have broken the magic -spell of memory? The dream is dispelled. It will henceforth -nevermore haunt your pillow. You have seen the -phantom of the past with the eyes of nowadays; the -new picture has replaced that of the dream—for ever.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la boite Delescluze</span></i>—as we irreverent youngsters -called that respectable institution—unlike those other -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>places, <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Cloud, for instance, which were fated to evoke -but a melancholy disappointment, could not be beheld -again with the carnal eye—not the least vestige of it. -And it is, no doubt, for that reason that so many memories -still come flitting back, smiling and clear, of that forgotten -cradle of scholarship.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XI</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>A glowing log rolls down from its -allotted place on the hearth, sending into -the room a jet of wood smoke, blue at -the stem, white feathering as it spreads -out; and the pungent smell immediately -revives a fresh set of scenes from the -past.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>NOSTRIL MEMORIES</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image099.jpg' alt='man on path in town' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>That nothing brings back old memories -so suddenly and so vividly as perfume -is a commonplace remark. But I wonder -whether the extraordinary persistency of -a first impression, in the case of odours -constantly met with, has been so generally -noticed. Perhaps I am peculiar in this -sensitiveness. Smells, pleasant, indifferent, -or otherwise, which one is liable to encounter -in the most varied circumstances, -should, one would think, cease in time to -recall any particular period of existence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For example, the delicious smell of roasting -coffee—an aroma not common in -England—may well bring you back, at -a jump, to some foreign, unfamiliar experience -of your youth—to that early -morning walk in the little Flemish town -of which you have forgotten the name; -where, as you sauntered down the street, -you were greeted at nearly every doorstep -by this pungent savour. The black cylindrical -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>family roaster, its berries rattling musically within, -was being carefully revolved over its bed of live charcoal -by the boy of the house, or perhaps by the housewife herself. -The delicate, diaphanous sky-blue smoke of the -beans, as they reached the perfecting point of their charring, -struck your eye as gratefully as the fragrance it conveyed -to your nostrils. No wonder that, after a long -spell, even a distant whiff of that odour of promise should -bring back a definite picture. But that essences of such -everyday character, say, as petrol; or that which accompanies -the peeling of an orange, should still have the power -of bringing me back, instantly, to the hours of my early -schooling, is in truth a curious matter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the case of petrol, perhaps, the connexion is less -extraordinary. Until the age of the motor was ushered in—and -that is barely a score of years ago—the smell of -“petroleum,” as it was still called, could come upon the -sense as an odour out of the usual run.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Whenever I come across it now, it never fails to waft me -back to the old class-room of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution</span></i>, the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Etude -No. 3</span></i>, where I first made acquaintance with the possibly -wholesome but not otherwise attractive redolence of the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">lampes à petrole</span></i>. That was during the short days of -the year, when these luminaries were brought in soon after -four o’clock, and suspended over our young heads—a -ceremony coinciding with the last hour of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">classe</span></i>—at the -end of which the assembly would be dispersed for the day: -the bigger boys walking back to their neighbouring homes, -the smaller being fetched by their <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonnes</span></i>, or it might be -the footman; or yet, in unpropitious weather, by anxious -parents in carriage or <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiacre</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span> -<img src='images/image101.jpg' alt='back of child sitting on bench' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Quaint place, that <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institution</span></i>—when -one looks back on it from this far -end of the road! I think I can breathe -its peculiar atmosphere this instant—and -see the queer, long, low room, -with the beams across the ceiling; -the whitewashed walls, covered with -highly coloured elementary maps and -graphic pictures of the metrical -system applied to measures lineal -and cubical, solid and liquid, and to -the national coinage.... There they -are: the six rows of benches and -desks, each with its half-dozen -youngsters, some elaborately drawing -a steel nib, in strokes alternately -swelling and slender, over a copybook of bafflingly soft -paper, productive of periodical splutters; others reading -‹in earnest or in pretence› a chapter of <cite>Epitome</cite>; others, -again, committing, with dumb mouthing, a fable of La -Fontaine to memory for to-morrow’s recitation, until such -moment as the cracked voice of the courtyard clock -striking five should proclaim the hour of release. The -usher, ensconced <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">in cathedra</span></i>, at his high desk; a smaller -lamp for his especial benefit burning ‹and smelling› by his -side; a book before him.—In his own walk he must have -passed, methinks now, for something of a dandy, in the -cheap line; for he remains associated more with sedulous -trimming of nails, with pulling out of curly brown -whiskers; with a nervous, tricky settling of collar, tie and -cuffs ‹obviously false›, than with anything else.... He -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>yawns amain. He consults his watch, and closes it with -a click in the midst of the great silence of the room—the -silence made more sensible, rather than disturbed, by the -recurrent splutter of a pen-nib, or the turning of a leaf of -<cite>Epitome</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That <cite>Epitome Historiae Sacrae</cite> was a primer adapted -to first year boys—a small buckram-bound book compendized, -poetically expurgated, and made in truth singularly -attractive to the young imagination—more attractive even, -I fancy, than those Fables of La Fontaine and of Florian -that, read in the light of “short stories,” were such -favourites. It was, by the way, called <cite>Epitome Sacrae</cite> -or even <cite>Sacrae</cite> pure and simple, in the same manner as the -volumes allotted to the two subsequent years were known -respectively as <cite>Latinae</cite> and <cite>Graecae</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I would give a fairly large coin of our present money for a -copy now, could I come across one in some old bookstall on -the quays. But, from their very nature, the cheapest -books are among the rarest things to recover at second -hand.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>SCRIPTURE STORIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was within the pale green covers of that queer little -tome that I tasted for the first time the literary savour of -the various <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">genres</span></i> in tale-telling; of pastoral and romance, -of idyll and tragedy. One could not truly say that any -very strong impression of a sacred character was conveyed -through the collection of Holy Scripture stories. But it is -doubtful whether anything read in after-life was stamped -so clearly on the imagination as the poetry of Ruth amid -the ears of barley, of Rebecca and the pitcher of water, of -Rachel; as the romance of Joseph and his brethren; as the -tragedy of Samson and Delilah; as the war pictures of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>Jericho and Jerusalem. It may have been a jumble of -disconnected tales—and, for the boys, nothing more than -tales—but each remains cut out in clean outline and -brightest colours that are never likely to fade. To this -day a field of golden corn, newly reaped, in pastoral -Dorset, under a hot harvest sun, will raise the bright -phantom of Boaz and the gentle gleaner. A country lass -at the fountain, or even merely the rim of some disused -and filled-up well, aye even such cryptic names as Jakin -and Boaz, the pillars, will conjure up again some picture -first raised from the pages of that <cite>Epitome Sacrae</cite>, read -under the light of the brown lamp gently swaying in the -draught of the school-room above our ruffled heads ... -and steadily smelling of petrol!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Connected with those enthralling first tales, now -that I come to think of it, is the development of certain -simple tastes in food which have endured through a life not -altogether devoid of gastronomic discrimination. Among -these may be mentioned a special delight in lentils—later -on extended to other members of the pulse tribe, but in its -origin especially concerned with lentils. It is to be noted -that the <cite>Epitome</cite> rendering of what in the Authorised -Version appears as red pottage is <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">un plat de lentilles</span></i>. -Now lentils, stewed in some toothsome reddish sauce ‹not -innocent of the savoury onion› was a standing Friday -dish in the refectory at Delescluzes ‹together, be it said, -with a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Saint Jean</span></i> fish-pie—<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Saint Jean</span> being the equivalent -of our own mediæval “Poor John,” otherwise salt -cod›. The small boy, however, who was destined, at the -maturity of time, to become the Master of the House at -the Villino Loki, was allowed a fair mutton chop of his -own by special compact with M. Delescluze, as a concession -to his Protestant heresy.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image104.jpg' alt='children eating at table' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE DELECTABLE LENTIL</div> - -<p class='c008'>The arrangement had been made -when the dietary of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">jours -maigres</span></i> came, quite accidentally, -to the knowledge of his anxious -parents. Such a concession might -have bidden fair to scandalize the -youthful republic at dinner time—if -not perhaps on purely dogmatic -ground, at least upon a question of invidious -privilege. But it happened that the intended beneficiary of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>the bi-weekly <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">côtelette</span></i> had been struck by that puzzling -tale of Esau’s birthright so readily exchanged for a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">plat -de lentilles</span></i>.—Red pottage had become invested with an -almost mystical quality.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is often a good deal of auto-suggestion connected -with matters of food pleasure. At any rate the Friday -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">plat de lentilles</span></i> ranked among the most desirable of eatable -things, in his young opinion. The answer to the jeer that -greeted him from the neighbour on his right, as the -appetizing grill was laid by the grinning attendant for the -first time upon the wooden board before him, was a prompt -offer of half the flesh portion for the whole of his allowance -of pulse—and a similar disposal of the remainder on -the left-hand side. One chop for two plates of the savoury -mess: the barter, as far as the pleasures of the table were -concerned, was one of gain, for all parties. It had the -further advantage of cutting at the root of conversational -unpleasantness. The exchange of a single fat, heretical -chop for two helpings of orthodox meagre fare became -an established compact—one, it must be said, which -demanded not only secrecy but adroitness for its -fulfilment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The redistribution of the courses was usually carried out -under the shelter of an enormous <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">broc</span></i> ‹a relic of conventual -furniture›, the French representative of our old -English Black Jack; an obese, jug-like, wooden contrivance -with iron hoops, containing something better than a -gallon of the anodyne mixture called <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">abondance</span></i>—one part -thin red wine to four of water. It was a supply which -could, without danger to sobriety, be drawn upon, as the -regulation had it, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à discretion</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>The parties to this lentil transaction, which took place at -the end of the long table farthest from the eyes of the -presiding usher, had to bid for turns.... Where are you -this day, you the only two whilom reprobate amateurs of -chops on fast days whose names I can yet recall? You, -Victor de Mussy, with the notable store of infantile -catches and conundrums? And you, Guilleaume Moreau, -of more plebeian stamp, who used to look up words for -me in the dictionary—a task I truly loathed—at the rate of -three words for one <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bec-de-plume</span></i>? If you are still in the -land of the living, I would take a fair bet that it never -occurs to you now to order, of your own accord, a dish -of lentils!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE INCOMPARABLE ORANGE</div> -<p class='c008'>Another persistent “nostril memory,” as I have said, is -that of the orange. It is a curious one. Of a certainty I -must have eaten of the golden apple many a time before -that notable night when I was first taken to a theatre. -And yet it is invariably that delirious occasion which is -recalled, for however fleeting a moment, -when the bursting of the essential oil cells -of an orange peel sends forth its fragrance.</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/image106.jpg' alt='child leaning over' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The drama was “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bas-de-Cuir</span></i>”—an -adaptation of Fenimore Cooper’s Red -Indian tale “Leather Stocking.” When -I say that the part of “Leather Stocking” -was taken by Frederic Lemaitre—personified -genius of the old Romantic -Melodrama!—that the playhouse was -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Folies Dramatiques</span></i>—it will be patent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>to anyone familiar with the annals of the Paris stage that -I refer to a very distant period. I could not have -been more than eight years old. In those days, apparently, -the custom, delectable to the boys if less so to -their elders, of consuming oranges between the acts had -not yet fallen into desuetude.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is very odd. There are as we know a large number of -recognized methods of eating an orange: from the -elaborate and super-epicurean Japanese dissection within -the skin, which removes every pellicule and every pip out -of the fruit, preparatory to “spooning” the pure pulp, -with or without sugar, down to the simple suction known -as “Mattie’s way.” Whatever be the process, the effect -never fails if I stand by: as sure as the first puff of fresh -orange peel meets me, so is my mind instantly brought -back to some scene connected with “Leather Stocking”; to -some sense of the very first dramatic emotion ever known—the -silent laughter of the trapper; the faint, distant war -yell of the Huron; the darting of the bark canoe down the -rapid; the crack of a gun: the flare of the camp fire—what -not? It is, of course, but a transient flash now, but there -it always starts, harking, for a second or so, back half a -century in the middle of completely unrelated thoughts and -in surroundings the least likely to evoke the past—in the -silence of a sick bedside, or amid the hot dustiness of a -holiday crowd; or even, at dessert time, in the company -of some fair neighbour whose young, healthy powers of -table enjoyment enable her to conclude a regular dinner -with a whole orange eaten in the appreciative and fragrant -manner known as <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la Maltaise</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Scent alone, and that only for a second at a time, possesses -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>this fantastic power. The taste of marmalade, for instance, -is fraught with no special memories. As for the pleasure of -sight in connexion with the orange, it is now concentrated -upon the half-dozen trees—in pots, but bravely bearing -year by year their little burden of fruit destined to grow -for purely ornamental and “Italian” effect within doors at -the Villino.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What a marvel would an orange be considered, had it not -become an object of our everyday life! We take it as a -matter of course; but how much poorer would the world -suddenly seem if oranges became henceforth unobtainable! -And the lemon! If lemons cost a guinea apiece, I once -heard a physician say who had a special experience of its -wide-reaching healing powers, then would mankind appreciate -the treasure it has at hand! One-half of its being, -and by no means the less important, the rind, is deplorably -neglected. We deal with it as with a practically worthless -husk. If we more generally understood the value of its -ethereal oil, we might save ourselves many a spell of -unaccountable physical depression. I can personally testify -to numerous instances of feverish bouts cured solely by a -hot decoction of lemon zest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A similar virtue, by the way, seems to reside in the leaves -of the Citrus Limonum. In southern countries—especially, -I am told, in Spanish America—these leaves are obtainable -in the dry state, and used as a febrifuge and alternative -“tea,” or rather tisane, with marked results.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XIII</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>THE INVALUABLE ONION</div> -<p class='c008'>Talking of the proper need of appreciation that might be -rendered to some of nature’s goodly gifts, if only they were -presented to us as something rare and novel—what of the -humble but invaluable onion? “The onion,” as Stevenson -says in his masterpiece, Prince Otto ‹and great was my -satisfaction when I first read the pronouncement›, “which -ranks with the truffle and the nectarine in the chief place -of honour of earth’s fruit.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Truffle and nectarine are doubtless honourable terms of -comparison, but I make bold to believe that any well-constituted -jury of epicures would not hesitate to award -the humble onion the place paramount among all the -savours of civilized cookery. There are a certain number -of curiously constituted people who absolutely refuse to -countenance the onion in any connexion, however subdued -and distant; who profess, whether in æsthetic affectation -or through some innate queasiness, to look upon it as -pure abomination. There are also those who assume a -similar intolerant attitude towards tobacco. But who shall -deny that, even as tobacco to the meditative and restful -moments, the savoury onion has not added through the -ages an incalculable zest to the hour of physical restoration? -There could be no cuisine, on any varied scale, -without it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“If the onion did not exist,” said a great <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cordon-bleu</span></i>, -paraphrasing a well-known philosophical pronouncement, -“it would have to be invented.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Discreetly introduced, and subdued by happy blendings, it -holds the finest of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fumets</span></i> for your gastronomist’s palate: -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>and, in all its own undisguised vigour, it will invest the -coarsest or most tasteless food with never-failing allurement -for robust appetites, whatever changes be rung upon -the raw or pickled, the white-boiled, the golden-fried, or the -brown-stewed.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image110.jpg' alt='man at outside table' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It must have been that russet background of onion which -justified my youthful preconceived notion of the pricelessness -of “Red Pottage” as an article of food. It no doubt -fixed the taste for life. Of course, in all matters of -earthly enjoyment, the “psychological” moment ‹which, -by the way, is so often purely physiological› -plays an important part. Certain -tastes reveal themselves only as pleasurable -in certain surroundings. A draught -of coarse, dark wine of la Mancha, sucked -out of the goat-skin sack, with its obtrusive, -pitchy twang, will be a pure -delight on the side of some dusty, stony -Castillian road. And no one who has -not had, in some wild out-of-the-way -mountain village, to break his fast at -peep-o’-day upon a chunk of grey bread, -stone-ground and tasting of the wheat-fields, -a handful of salt and a couple of -Spanish onions, will ever know all the -excellences of that juicy bulb.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is reported that, like his furiously -assertive relation, garlic, the onion has -very definite medical virtues. Some claim -for it a power to cure sleeplessness—dreaded -distemper—and also various antiseptic -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>properties. This is as may be. The province of the -precious plant, the duty which it fulfils well and simply, is -that of supplying savour to things that may be nutritious -but lack appetizing virtue. Many are the instances that -might be adduced in support of this economic plea, but -none more directly to the point than that of the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soupe à -l’oignon</span></i>, which your thrifty French housewife contrives -at shortest notice—the traditional “soup meagre,” object -of such bitter contempt in our beef-gorging Hogarthian -days.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>This new culinary topic sets me once more back in the -streets of old Paris, on the occasion when I made personal -acquaintance with the possibilities of a penny meal—the -best appreciated breakfast I have ever known.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was in the very last of my French days. Paris had -then recovered from the miseries of the German siege and -the nightmare of Commune anarchy, three years past. -Within the next few months a new life was to be opened -to me in England. The prospect of the great change, albeit -fraught with some features of gravity, was exhilarating.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lycée</span></i>, for all its admirable scheme of studies, had -lately been abandoned in favour of a quaint old British -scholar, very poor, very learned, who lived on the heights -of Montmartre, in the oddest little house—so filled with -books that almost everywhere one had to move literally -edge-ways. The very stairs, for lack of shelves, were -piled on both sides with volumes, old and modern, -tattered or nobly bound, stored regardless of subjects, -merely in sizes for the sake of room.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>Long could I talk about you, O my dear Mr. Gilchrist—you -with the keen eyes and the vigorous hook nose -‹always half-filled with snuff›; with the flowing -beard of venerable threescore and ten, who -taught me to read “the classics” after -the English manner, <i>i.e.</i> -with a regard to quantities; -who, for the -modest and -evidently -much wanted -fee agreed -upon, gave me daily at least five hours -tuition ‹sometimes more› instead of -the stipulated three! Hours, be it said, that went by lightly -enough in that queer, snuffy room, where we sat facing each -other on two straight-backed chairs—eager boy and no less -eager old man. For, the Latin and Greek tasks over, there -always followed excursions, one more fascinating than the -other, into the deep and still unknown forest of English -letters. And such was the variety and the happy choice of -excerpts that, incredible as it may seem, the scholar of -fourteen was oftener sorry than elated to leave the garrulous -and enthusiastic mentor on his hill-top and return to the paternal -house in the lower planes of the Champs Elysées.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image112.jpg' alt='child and old man' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>An odd way of life for a youth, during those last few months -of spring and early summer in Paris! It was full of glad -aspirations towards the future, it is true, but at the same -time not without an almost regretful enjoyment of the -present. The distribution of time was peculiar. There -was in it a kind of unconscious anticipation of that light-saving -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>Bill of Mr. Willet ‹which has so little chance -of being embodied in an Act›. The queer boy, in his -transition stage, had taken a cranky turn on the subject -of hours. Having made up his mind, on the one hand, that -he had an enormous amount of new things to read and -assimilate before his fresh start in England; and, on the -other, having heard that one hour of morning study was -worth ‹on what authority it matters little now› two after -noon, he had invested in a specially ferocious alarum clock. -The merciless clamour of this machine drove him out of -dreamland daily at a quarter to five <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">ante meridiem</span></i>; and, -strange as it undoubtedly was, it is not on record that -he ever failed during that period to obey the summons.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A SEDULOUS SCHOLAR</div> - -<p class='c008'>There must have been somewhere at the back of so -unnatural a submission, of such a persistency in a purely -self-imposed and unnecessary discipline, a sort of romantic -smack of mediævalism.... The “sedulous <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">escholier</span></i>” ‹so -warmly commended by Saint Louis› was found awake -and already absorbed in his search for lore as returning -day began to whiten his window.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The net result was a couple of hours of really earnest -work before it was time to dispatch the morning bowl -of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">café au lait</span></i> and the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pain de gruau</span></i> and hasten to the -ascent of Mons Martis, where impatient Mr. Gilchrist -looked for his scholar’s appearance at eight sharp. It -was very special reading—English History—a subject with -which the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cours d’histoire</span></i> at the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lycée</span> could only deal in a -sketchy manner; but the early-rising <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">escholier</span></i>, greedy of -new knowledge, was fortunately helped by the appearance -in that year of Green’s “Short History of the English -People,” and fell under the charm of the captivating work.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XIV</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>PLAYING TRUANT</div> - -<p class='c008'>I have said that it is not on memory’s record that the -whilom schoolboy, now in his mediæval student mood, -failed to rise at the appointed clock crow. Of a truth he -rarely had less than his eight hours good sleep, glad -enough as he was to retire to rest at nine—“curfew time.” -But it must be admitted that on one occasion or two he -succumbed to the weakness of compounding with his -studious resolutions. The French equivalent of playing -truant is <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">faire l’école buissonière</span></i>—a taking term, redolent -of the allurement of hedgerows and free green fields. And -it is the memory of one of these <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">écoles buissonières</span></i>—or -rather, in this case, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">écoles riveraines</span></i>—that, through the -usual devious paths, brings me back to the forgotten -question of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soupe à l’oignon</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It must have been a very early day in May, for at a -quarter before five, when the imperative rattle was sprung, -sun-rays were just beginning to dart between the curtains. -The birds in the Champs Elysées kept up their concert -through the morning silence of the gardens with more -persistent enthusiasm than usual. And on looking out -of window, under such a pure sky, the out-of-door world -looked quite extraordinarily inviting. It would have been -folly to decline such an invitation!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The “Short History,” opened at a chapter of the Hundred -Years War, was left for the nonce undisturbed: the -scholar sallied forth to roam under the tall trees of the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cours la Reine</span></i>, intent, no doubt, on returning after a short -stroll. But there is in the early morning hours, especially -on such a morning, the spell of the “invitation to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>road.” The river-side, so fresh and green, and the unending -line of giant plane trees on the quays, as he swung along -to meet the sun, still low behind the Isle of Notre Dame, -drew him on and on. He decided only to return for -breakfast and Gilchrist. Then he bethought himself there -would be time to stroll through those populous quarters -which, unlike the residential districts, were still in many -ways the Paris of the Middle Ages. That was the Paris -which held for him then so potent an interest—the Paris -within the walls of Charles VI; the town of Armagnacs -and Burgundians, which had been governed by Bedford for -his infant English King; the crowded space, in short, -between the old Louvres and the new Bastille, which had -been kept in order by the tramping of English men-at-arms. -One inquisitive excursion led to another—nearly two -hours had been spent in delightful ferreting; there was no -time to return home for breakfast before the Gilchrist-ward -ascent. Meanwhile a positively wolfish hunger had -begun to assert itself. The scholar “searched his pouch.” -This was quite in mediæval style; and what was decidedly -in the same style was the discovery of but two poor -deniers for all asset! His usual pocket-money allowance -was then reposing on the bed-side table, far away, save -for these two pennies luckily forgotten in a waistcoat -pocket.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This discovery was made, ruefully enough, as he was -looking about in the vicinity of Saint Eustache for some -respectable <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">restaurateur</span></i> wherein to obtain the matutinal -coffee. But two deniers—twopence, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vingt centimes</span></i>—would -never purchase breakfast at any table under a roof. -What the devil...! Well, twopence in this workmen’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>district would buy bread enough, anyhow, to appease the -sharpest-set morning appetite. Saint Eustache, as every -one knows, is close to the Halles Centrales, the great food -emporium of Paris—a kind of combined Smithfield, Billingsgate, -Covent Garden, and Leadenhall Market. The now -frantic owner of the two pence was darting about the -galleries in search of the first bread-stall, when he was -arrested by a floating -savour, truly -ambrosial. As he -stopped and involuntarily, -if quite -obviously, sniffed, a -tempting voice rose -beside him, engagingly -familiar: “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Oui, -elle est bonne, ce -matin. Tu en veux, -beau garçon?</span></i>” And -so saying, a fat smiling <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">dame de la Halle</span></i>, with an alert -eye to business, plunged a ladle into a deep iron <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">marmite</span></i> -and filled a generous-sized white bowl, something a trifle -under a pint in capacity, with a steaming brown pottage, -that in the circumstances was positively irresistible: -“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Combien, la mère?</span></i>” asked the truant scholar, falling into the -speech suitable to the place, and fingering the two modest -coins with doubt and anxiety, even as might a ravening -Villon, a destitute Gringoire.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image116.jpg' alt='woman holding steaming bowl' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Combien, mon p’tit gros? Mais un sou, toujours!—Et au -fromage</span></i>,” changing her tone to mock deference as one -addressing a client of importance, “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">au fromage, dix centimes</span></i>, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mon prince!—Mais, bernique! n’y en a plus!</span></i>”—she added, -laughing complacently and tossing her head in the direction -of a second cauldron that lay empty on her left.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The more luxurious cheese pottage being “off,” and time -of importance ‹it would, volunteered the culinary Madame -Angot, take ten minutes to prepare the next potful› the -famished wanderer proffered his penny and received his -grateful bowl together with some eight inches of “long -bread” in lieu of his half-denier change. And, leaning -against a pillar, he set himself to the enjoyment of what, -as I have remarked before, was the best breakfast of his -life.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>SAVOURY POTTAGE</div> - -<p class='c008'>Hunger is the finest of all possible sauces—a truism even -more than a proverb. The snatched crust, the draught -of clear water in the palm of the hand, at some dire moment -of want, is more welcome than the most cunning dish, the -rarest cup in the easy tenor of life. But the plain bread -and the clear water, however eagerly seized, must ever -savour of hardship. Now this halfpenny worth of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">soupe à -l’oignon</span></i> bore none of that character, for all that, as far as -nutriment went, it consisted of naught but bread and -water. It had all the attributes of a civilized meal: it was -hot, savoury, immediately comforting.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As I disposed of it at leisure—for it was scalding, and -had, besides, in an Epicurean way, to be husbanded -as a relish to my portion of simple loaf—I watched the -rotund but brisk dame prepare another instalment of the -superior, or penny, brew against the next influx of customers. -The first <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">clientèle</span></i> ‹it appeared in course of friendly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>if fitful conversation› came about six o’clock—journeymen -without a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ménagère</span></i> at home, on their way to their day’s -task; or night-workers in the Halles, on their way to -morning sleep. The next one would begin soon—clerks, -workgirls, and small employés who have to be at their -post about eight. Then the demand for the penny bowl -would rise afresh about noon.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To one who was even then tasting the full value of the -finished product the method of production had the interest -of actuality, and was otherwise enlightening. And, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pardi!</span></i> -it is worth recording, as an instance of what could be -done with raw material to the value of twelve sous—less -than sixpence—to provide twenty people with a -savoury dishful of broth and leave a distinct turnover of -profit.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These—as far as I could judge—were about a score of -medium-sized onions of the more pungent kind ‹twopence, -four sous or four cents›; half a pound or thereabouts of -butter, salt butter it is true, but your Parisian insists -wherever he can upon <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cuisine au beurre</span></i> ‹six sous›; a ladle-full -of flour ‹say one farthing, half a cent›; something like two -sous’ worth of stale bread, baker’s shop remnants. Leaving -the cost of firing out of consideration—and in thrifty -ingenious French hands it would be small—the return -would be like thirty per cent. on the outlay.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As for the technique of the brewing, it was simple but -elegant. The sliced onions, fried in the butter at the -bottom of the iron pot to a pleasing sunset colour under -the watchful eye of the matron, were at the right moment -powdered with the allowance of flour and stirred until -the suitable appetizing brown was achieved—“The flour is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>just to thicken the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bouillon</span></i>, you understand, my lad,” the -benevolent operator was pleased to comment, noticing -inquisitiveness.—Then, at the precise moment of alchemic -projection, the sliced shreds of bread were precipitated in -the caldron, and gently turned round with a wooden spoon -to let them take unto themselves all the unction of the -butter, all the essence of the succulent bulbs. And presently -the whole thing was drowned under a cataract of -scalding hot water ‹some two gallons›. After a bubble -or two of boiling the combination was completed and the -savoury caldron was set aside upon a nest of smouldering -ashes, ready against the next breakfast seeker.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>And the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">escholier</span></i>, having absorbed the last crumb and -the last spoonful, hastened, greatly refreshed, by every -conceivable short cut to his heights of Montmartre—<i>Mons -Martyrum</i>, by the way, some etymologists insist on -dubbing, in opposition to the <i>Mons Martis</i> theory, in -regard that it was the site of the martyrdom of <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Denis, -the French “Champion of Christendom.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>VIRGIL ON “DOGGIES”</div> - -<p class='c008'>He was a trifle late—no doubt as a result of short cuts—and -Mr. Gilchrist proportionately stern, just at first. But -the dear enthusiastic teacher gradually mellowed under -the influence of that morning’s reading—the “Georgics,” -most enchanting of all Garden Talk volumes. The old -scholar’s geniality had completely returned by the time we -reached that “doggy” passage of the Third Book beginning -with “<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nec tibi cura canum fuerit postrema</span></i>.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I can still see him smiling confidently at me over the line, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>“Let not thy dogs be the last of thy cares....” There -was something prophetic about it!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Here, two score of years later, as I dream of the past, -lies Arabella stretched by the fire, now and again heaving -her great sighs of comfort. Bettina, curled at my feet, -looks up adoringly at the master and wags her stump of -tail whenever she meets his eye. As for Prince Loki, he -has commandeered the best deep armchair, where he lies -flat on his back, with front paws folded upon his bosom, -and hind legs stretched out in abandoned beatific fashion, -snoring melodiously.... <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cura canum postrema</span></i>, indeed!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XV</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The Hyacinths are all out in the Dutch Garden. But -alas, the winds of March!—they grew and gathered and -became a gale and laid -some twenty of our -silver-blue soldiers prostrate. -Their fat juicy -stalks snap all too -easily. In the pots on -the terrace wall, half -have been swept away. -However, thanks to -our close planting, only -the eye of the initiate -could perceive the gaps. -Right under the study -windows there are still -twin lakes of exquisite -pale sapphire, breathing -fragrance.</p> - -<div class='figright id010'> -<img src='images/image121.jpg' alt='outside in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>In the bank below the -Dutch Garden, the -Narcissus, which have -been set to the tune of two -thousand, are swaying long -lemon-coloured buds out of a field -of green spikes. There are, in that tongue of land, two -Buddleia trees which have grown to unusual height and girth -and are a mass of orange balls in due season. And there is -a band of Iris to which we are perpetually adding, but which, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>mysteriously, never seems to increase. There is also a -shrubby bit where you will behold a wild rose tree; two -nondescript flowering evergreens; a darling little Scotch -Briar, one mass of yellow Pompons, entrancing by their -wild scent; those disappointing bushes known as Altheas, -so eulogized by garden chroniclers; and a Rheum.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We planted the Rheum last year. This March it -astonishes us by the leaf buds it has produced. They -are like stormy, sinister, crimson blossoms with gaping -yellow mouths, and look poisonous and tropical: altogether -out of place in a Surrey moorland—especially with -the innocence of the grey Lavender plant that grows -beside them. What a thrilling thing a garden is and -how full of surprises!—do Rheums always do this, we -wonder?</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>CARPETS OF BLUE</div> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image122.jpg' alt='flower pot' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>All the Compton pots along the terrace are filled with -blue Hyacinths and Forget-me-nots; all the beds about -the house are stuffed with Tulips and -again Forget-me-nots. Now, some people -‹we read in a garden-book the other day› -eschew this plant, <i>Myosotis silvestris</i>, -because “it spreads so rapidly that it -may almost be regarded as a weed.” We -are the kind of people who like our -flowers to spread like weeds; especially -when, as in the case of this attractive sinner, every -bed becomes a delicate cloud of blue from which on long -stems the Darwins rear their cups of wonderful colour.</p> - -<div class='figleft id015'> -<img src='images/image122a.jpg' alt='small flower' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>A little later on, we mean to make the same use of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>Nemophila, which last year, in spite of ceaseless rain, kept -bravely blue in the patch where it had been sown until -quite the end of autumn.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Every one tells us that Madonna Lilies will not succeed in -our soil. We are making another effort with giant bulbs, -which, so far, promise splendidly.</p> - -<div class='figright id015'> -<img src='images/image123.jpg' alt='flower' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Fate, in its unexpected way, has provided us with a -double row of red Duc van Thol Tulips on each side of -the two little rose beds that run down the grass -slope under the bench yclept “<i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Schöne Aussicht</span></i>.” -That particular slope, by the way, in the pristine -days of jungle, was the worst bit of wilderness. -Heather, Gorse, Bramble, Bracken and underwood -made it simply impenetrable. Now, cleared and -turfed, it leads the eye gently on to the Pine Tree -Avenue; to the green of the fields beyond; to the -valley and the distant hills. In a triangular bed -at the top a clump of Lilac has been planted and -carpeted beneath with “Bachelor’s Buttons.” -Already it is very gay, although the Lilacs are -only in bud. We believe these double Daisies go -by another title in gardening circles, but this is -a name associated with youthful memories. They ought -to flourish the whole year round, since bachelors will -always be in season. We shall see.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>There is nothing that gives one a more intimate sense of -the joy of spring than the renewed song of the birds. It is -good to wake at early dawn and hear the soft sleepy -calls and cries with which they first rouse each other, then -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>the exquisite voice of thrush or blackbird, singing as it -were under its breath the morning hymn which is one of -the most touching things in Nature.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just now a small bird was spinning out a monody as -delicate and continuous and attenuated as a spider’s -gossamer—some feathered mother, we fancy, cradling her -eggs. We never heard any song quite like it before. -Adam shakes his head and says we are bringing the birds -about the house with our winter largesses; but one might -as well be told that if you want to keep your house tidy -you should banish the children!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Says Victor Hugo:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Préservez moi, Seigneur, préservez ceux que j’aime,</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Frères, parents, amis, et mes ennemis mêmes,</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dans le mal triomphants,</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De jamais voir, Seigneur, la ruche sans abeilles</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La printemps sans oiseau, l’été sans fleurs vermeilles ...</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La maison sans enfants!</span></i>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Substitute “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">jardin</span></i>” for “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">printemps</span></i>” and you have our -views. We have no children in this house, worse luck ... -except the fur ones.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>CONCERNING CALIBAN</div> - -<p class='c008'>Caliban, the garden man, has again broken his “pledge,” a -little quicker than usual this time, and we fear we must be -firm and keep to our last ultimatum—that unless he takes it -afresh he will have to go. Caliban always reminds us of -a prehistoric man. Whenever one meets him he looks -exactly as if he had just reared himself upright from -running on all fours, and would drop down again immediately -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>as soon as we are out of sight. He has an excellent -hard-working wife, and works very well himself—until the last -pledge has quite worn away. We are sorry for Mrs. Caliban, -the mother of three prehistoric babies: for we hear that -Caliban, in the philosophic language of the district, “knocks -her about a bit,” when he has had what he calls “his glass -of beer.”—“You couldn’t wish for a nicer husband, when -he’s sober,” she vows, poor woman, and is pathetically -hopeful every time the oath of abstinence is administered! -It is dreadful how many bad husbands there are in this -small district. In another family the father is so well -known that the mere mention of his name is enough to -stiffen the employer of labour.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“<i>Dere Miss, my husband as been very unlucky and strained -hisself again and ad to give up his work.</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thus the poor wife starts the usual appeal when the -inevitable has occurred and there is no more bread in the -house. We are quite accustomed to these missives, which -indeed might be stereotyped with space left for the date. -Although the brother of a local policeman, this black -sheep is altogether so hopeless, that, in order to keep his -poor little progeny from growing sable in their turn, we -have placed a lamb out here and there in divers charitable -folds. Alfie, the last rescued, is a more original letter-writer -than his mother. This was the document that he -sent her from that happy Home for Little Boys where we -trust he will grow up with an unimpeachable fleece.</p> - -<p class='c019'>“<i>Dere Mother,—I hope this finds you well. I hope James -and Vilet and Alice are well and nice and good. This is a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>very nice place. I hope you will tell me when you are going -to call that I may be in. God bless you.</i></p> -<div class='c020'><i>“Yours trewly</i>,</div> -<div class='c021'>“<i>ALFRED</i>.”</div> - -<p class='c008'>In yet another family, the head of which was in the habit -of spending ten or twelve shillings a week regularly on -cigarettes and tipple, until Nemesis overtook him in the -shape of consumption, the pretty, hard-working, fiery-haired -Irish wife declares without a thought of unkindness, -that if she could only get him “out of the way for good” -she could “do all right” for herself and her three small -children.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE VILLAGE CURSE</div> - -<p class='c008'>If ever woman has a voice in social reform, though -with a few glaring exceptions legal interference with the -liberty of the subject is abhorrent to Loki’s Grandmother, -and she has little wish herself for suffrage or any other -rage, she vows that she will vote and vote and vote for -any measure that may tend to eliminate the Public House -from the countryside—curse of the small home that it is! -In every one of these cases there would be comfort and -happiness in the family were it not for the perpetual -temptation to the breadwinner.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The blacker the sheep, sad to say, the larger as a rule the -family of doubtfully hued lambs. Mrs. Mutton—the letter-writer—is -“not so well just now.” She is pathetically -anxious that the new babe may be born alive, having lost -the last one. Loki’s Ma-Ma went to see her the other -day, and found her with a knowledgeable neighbour who -has promised to “see her through,” and in a state of profound -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>gloom, not unmixed, however, with a faint, pleasurable -importance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, Miss, we have just heard of such a sad thing in the -village. The nurse, she’s just been up to tell me—a pore -young woman, Miss, gone with her first!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, dear!”—Loki’s Mother is duly impressed, but -anxious to distract Mrs. Mutton’s mind—“That is very -sad. I hope you’re feeling pretty well to-day, Mrs. -Mutton?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“No, Miss, I’m very poorly these days. Mrs. Tosher -here says she’s never seen any one like me. ‘What -can it be,’ she says, ‘that makes you like this?’ Don’t -you, Mrs. Tosher?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, my dear.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I fell agin the water-butt this morning,” goes on Mrs. -Mutton, in the melancholy drone that is habitual to her. -“A kind of weakness it was come over me. I hit my -eye—something awful, Miss, as you can see!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The signorina had been tactfully averting her gaze from -that black orb; she now blesses the superior tact which -enables her to contemplate it calmly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Tosher—a large, jovial, untidy female with a shrunken -“blue cotton” inadequately fastened by two safety pins -across her capacious bosom—gives a heavy but non-committal -groan. Mr. Mutton’s name is not mentioned. -The water-butt explanation is accepted without demur.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Of course, she’s ’ad a shock to-day, Miss, you see,” -says the village matron, and brings the conversation back -to the original topic, which is one of great attraction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, Miss, it ’aving been just as it might be me, Miss.” -Mrs. Mutton sighs, and looks in a detached, if one-sided -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>manner, out of the grimy window. The visitor perceives -there is nothing for it: she must hear the details. Wisely -she resigns herself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What happened?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well, it was all along of two suet dumplings and some -chops, Miss, which wasn’t as they ought to have been, -having been kept in the ’ouse too long, you see. Wasn’t -that it, Mrs. Tosher, my dear?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, my dear, and some ’ard bits of parsnip.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But it was mostly the chops, Miss, they’d been kept, -you see. The doctors, they couldn’t do nothing for her.” -Mrs. Mutton sighs and lifts the fringe of her shawl to the -damaged eye. Tragic as the tale is, Loki’s Mother visibly -brightens:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But then the poor thing was poisoned,” she cries cheerfully.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, Miss, potomaine poison along of her condition, -being the same as mine, Miss.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But, Mrs. Mutton, anyone—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“No, Miss.” Mrs. Tosher intervenes: she cannot allow -this foolish attempt at consolation to proceed. “The -doctor said it was along of her condition.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes, Miss, it’s the condition as done it—all along of a -bit of chop—kept like—and ’ard parsnips.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XVI</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>A friend of ours once told us that a doubtful sister-in-law -had written describing the weather as “boysterious.” -The word pleases us. It looks so much more graphic, -spelt thus, than in the ordinary way. Well, we are having -a “boysterious” time with shifting winds, this end of -March. All the poor Pheasant-eye’s leaves are bruised -and drooping, and the little field of Narcissus under the -Buddleia trees is bent and tangled. To-day Adam has -rolled away six tubs filled with last year’s Hyacinths and -put them in the border before the rough wall in the front -courtyard, against which we have last autumn planted -Wichuriana Roses in divers shades of yellow and tawny, -chiefly “Jersey Beauties.” A row of Polyanthuses, -“Munstead Strain,” are blooming in front. The -Hyacinths are blue. The effect ought to be pretty in -a week or so. When the Hyacinths are over we shall -go back to the old pink climbing Geraniums for the tubs, -and they will, please Heaven, flourish from June onwards -between our yellow roses. We think we will plant pink -Geraniums, but we are not quite sure, for last year we -had red “Jacobys” in those tubs, and very well they -looked. We should not at all object to them in contrast -to the roses.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>HONEYSUCKLE AND BITTER APPLE</div> - -<p class='c008'>Last night Loki’s Grandmother began to plan a new -garden extravagance. She finds it very soothing when sleep -abandons her pillow. We have not half enough Honeysuckle—that’s -a fact. She thinks she will order a dozen pots. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>She has also a desire to get a dozen Clematis, chiefly -Jackmanni, in the mauve and purple sorts, and plant them -in their pots—the only way, she believes, in which even -the commonest sorts will grow in this ungrateful soil. -Honeysuckle, we know, thrives here. One summer we -took a house on a hill near this, a little house buried in a -wood, and the whole place was exquisite with the scent -of Honeysuckle. It was grown all about the house, and -over archways in the garden. Horrid archways made of -wire they were: but it didn’t matter, the Honeysuckle was -the thing. We wanted all we could get of it, for there -were other odours, not at all so nice, that lurked about. -The owner of the house, thrifty soul ‹at least we suppose -it goes with a thrifty soul›, waged war against moths -with <i>naphthalene</i> and Bitter Apple, which are <i>anathema -maranatha</i> to us. We have had our nights poisoned in a -house in Scotland with the reek of Bitter Apple in the -blankets. We don’t know what people’s noses are made -of that they can voluntarily surround themselves with -such a pestilential atmosphere. The owner of the awful -blankets also keeps her furs with the same evil-smelling -precaution; and we can trace her entrance into the most -crowded winter tea-party in London if she has as much as -passed up the stairs.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Besides Bitter Apple inside the honeysuckle-covered house, -there was a pig outside—not on the premises hired by us, -but in the adjoining place, where there was a school for -little boys. When the wind blew from the direction of -that school, the garden was odious, Honeysuckle and all. -The first day we hoped it might be accidental. Then -Saturday came, and we suppose the odd man did a turn -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>at the sty, for there was peace till the next Tuesday, -when the wind blew from the south again. Then Loki’s -Grandmother marched into the room of Loki’s -Grandfather ‹there was no Loki then, so he wasn’t -a grandfather, but that is immaterial› and dictated -a letter to the schoolmaster. Loki’s -Future Grandfather protested. It is the -kind of thing he hates doing. She drove -him into the garden to smell. He tried -to say he couldn’t smell it. Then -she changed her tactics and hinted -at insalubrity—a case of diphtheria -in the village, and the danger to -Loki’s Future Mother. That had -him. He went in and sat down like -a lamb. She dictated, as has been -said. If anyone wants to know -the kind of letter in which to remonstrate -upon a neighbouring -schoolmaster’s pigsty, he cannot -do better than copy this model:</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image131.jpg' alt='pigsty' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c019'>“<i>Dear Sir,—I must apologize for -troubling you but I feel sure that -you are unaware of the offensive -condition of the pigsty which -adjoins our garden—</i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Offensive?” said Loki’s Grandpa doubtfully.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Offensive,” said she firmly. “Offensive, you can’t put anything -milder. It’s disgusting, pestilential, a public nuisance.” -“<i>There is so much sickness in the district</i>—” she dictated on.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>“Oh, I don’t think I need put that.” Loki’s Grandfather -was getting bored.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You must,” said she; “that will fetch him more than -anything. Isn’t he a schoolmaster? If it gets about that -he’s got an insanitary pig—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, the letter was finished with this artful twist. It had -the most brilliant and unexpected results. Not only was -the schoolmaster profoundly grateful for having his attention -drawn to the matter—and the pigsty really was better -ever after—but he expressed his gratitude in the most -effusive terms. And he and his whole family called, and -we went to tea in a thunderstorm at the school-house, -which apparently had been built the day before yesterday, -for the plaster was so wet the whole place steamed, and -Loki’s Grandmother caught the cold of her life.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>RUMOURS OF THE PIG-FARM</div> - -<p class='c008'>It is a very singular thing that in Ireland, the Padrona’s -native land, supposed, and with reason, to be very inferior -in the matter of cleanliness, the pig should be so much -better cared for. Never have we found the sweet airs of -that beloved country impregnated with “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bouquet de pigsty</span></i>” -as they are in every farm here. Of course most of the -pigs in Ireland—nice, clean, intelligent, active creatures—roam -cheerfully about the roads all day, and share the -family domicile by night. But even on properties which -own a separate habitation for the “gintleman that pays -the rint” it is swept and garnished for him in a manner -seldom seen over here.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the particular region of Dorsetshire where Loki’s Great -Aunt dwells there is quite a pretty house and grounds -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>nearly always tenantless by reason of the pig-farm at the -back. The farmer who kept the farm was amazed and -indignant when one of the passenger tenants remonstrated -with him and threatened him with the Sanitary Inspector. -What if his pigs were noticeable? “Pigs ain’t pizen,” he -said. I dare say, to him, by reason of associations with -his bank account, they were sweeter than violets.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Personally we should never keep pigs for choice, no matter -how interested we might be in farming. However we -might insist on the spotless condition of their dwelling-place, -however affectionately we might invite them to the -frequent bath and rejoice at the clean pink of their skins, -the horror of the moment of inevitable parting would -always be before us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A near relation of ours was the centre of a certain horrid -little anecdote, likewise connected with pigs, that is nevertheless -humorous enough. It happened in Dorset, in a -picturesque manor-house, the walled gardens of which abut -on a comely, prosperous farm. One April morning the -air was rent with the agonizing clamours of protesting -pigs; and she, whose tender heart suffered with the pain -of every animal, was rent too with compassion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, what,” she cried to her hostess, who was also her -daughter, “what can Mr. Boyt be doing to the poor, poor -pigs? Oh! Polly, I’m afraid he’s killing them!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Polly was not at all sure in her own mind that this was -not the case, but she was stout in asseverations to the -contrary.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, dear no, darling; nobody ever kills pigs this time -of year. They’re just cleaning out the sties, that’s all. -You know what pigs are, darling.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>In spite of a fresh and most dismal explosion, her mendacity -rose equal to the occasion; and her final statement, that -she knew for a fact that pigs weren’t half fattened yet, -produced the intended effect, and the dear visitor was -convinced.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image134.jpg' alt='woman standing at entrance in wall' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>TIRING WORK</div> - -<p class='c008'>Later in the day when all was stilled once more, and the -lovely April afternoon as full of country peace as it should -be, the two went out and down the lane; the guest in a -donkey-chair and her daughter by her side. To the latter’s -discomfiture on their return they met the portly form of -Mrs. Boyt, emerging from the walled -garden with an empty egg-basket. -Mrs. Polly was very anxious to -skirmish the donkey-chair past -with an ingratiating and nervous -giggle; but neither the donkey -nor the lady in the chair would -fall in with her strategy. The -lady in the chair had a liking -for Mrs. Boyt, and was amused -at the thought of a little chat -with her; and the donkey, like -all self-respecting donkeys, was -bound in honour to stop dead -when it was most wanted to -advance. Perhaps, too, Mrs. -Polly’s artfulness had aroused -lingering suspicions, for the -lady in the chair was very -firm:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Good evening, Mrs. Boyt. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>‹No, Polly, it’s not cold at all. No, I’m not going in yet.› -How is Mr. Boyt?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Mr. Boyt he be fairly, thanking you kindly, ’m. Of -course he be a bit tired this evening.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Polly, with a wild eye, intervened.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I’m afraid it’s tea-time, darling. H’m—H’m—A beautiful -evening—Mrs. Boyt, my Mother was admiring the little -calves—Come on, Bathsheba!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>In vain she clucked, in vain she pulled the reins; Bathsheba -merely twitched an ear. The clear voice from the -bath-chair put all efforts to turn the conversation on one -side with a decision which swept her into silence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Tired? Did you say your husband was tired, Mrs. -Boyt?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes’m. Pigs be very tiring.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Pigs, Mrs. Boyt?—Oh! what was he doing with the -poor pigs this morning? He wasn’t—he wasn’t killing -them?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, ’ess ’m.” And, blind to the horror and disgust on -her listener’s face, Mrs. Boyt proceeded with unction:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Beautiful pigs they was, six of them.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, but he didn’t do it himself?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, ’ess ’m.” Mrs. Boyt was much shocked. “We -allus do it ourselves, I do hold en, and Boyt he do stick -en—very tiring it do be for us both!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was only Mrs. Polly who saw the humour of the situation -in after days. The beloved lady in the bath-chair remained -overwhelmed with the tragedy. It was not a subject that -could be referred to again in her presence.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XVII</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image136.jpg' alt='house with smoke coming out of chimney' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>How delightful it is to come back to our moors after -London! Loki’s Grandmother’s heart always sinks when -the bricks and mortar begin to spring up about the -road, and the houses close in around her. Sometimes -she thinks that what weighs upon it is the -sense of all those miles of squalor; of all those -hives of human misery; of all the sin and -suffering. Perhaps, however, she is influenced -by mere distaste of the crowd; displeasure in -living one of a herd in a jostle of houses; the -ignominy of being a number in a row with -undesired neighbours on either side! Who -would prefer to look on pavements, area -railings and lamp-posts; to listen to the roar -and turmoil of a life one has no ambition -to share—a life vexing the peace of night -and day, rather than feast the eyes on cool -green loveliness, on rolling moorland; the -ear on vast delicious silence or the choiring of -windswept woods? How, in fact, can anyone who has the -choice live in town, instead of in the fair, quiet, spacious -country? One cannot feel one’s soul one’s own in -London: bits of it are perpetually escaping to join the -giddy midge dance. The individuality evaporates. But -then—there are concerts, and Wagner’s operas; and one’s -own select friends and the interest of the great intellectual -movements! The splendid activities of life seem to pass -one by in the country. Well, we suppose, like everything -else in existence, one must take the see-saw as it comes, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>and accept the bumps for the sake of the soaring. But -we are always glad to come back to Villino Loki.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A SCHEME OF AZURE AND TAWNY</div> - -<p class='c008'>The discoveries one makes in the garden after ten days’ -absence are thrilling. The three rows of Thomas More -Tulips under the dining-room window are colouring to a -glorious orange, and the Forget-me-nots planted between -them are showing little sparks of blue. The tawny Wallflowers -at the back are not all we could wish; but, even -pinched as they are, the effect of their many velvet hues is -satisfactory. There is a single row of double Tulips -‹Prince of Orange› at the edge of the bed, between the -Forget-me-nots. In a week or so, looking up the terrace, -there will be five lines of flame running gloriously out of -the blue; a sight to delight the eye, against the curious -bronze purple the moor wears just now.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Scillas, which we thought were going to fail us, have -been a tremendous success, and still form pools of glowing -blue round the almond trees. Next year we intend to -make a feature of Scillas. They are such tiny bulbs that -they can scarcely interfere with anything; and we shall -slip them in among the perennials in every corner, besides -putting more in the grass terraces. We are also going to -run riot with “Steeple-Jacks,” especially the light turquoise -kind. They last an immense time and are of a delicious -tint. The long border of Campanelle Jonquils that we -have planted in what we call the “Bowling Green” are -drawn up as for a review, stiff and straight like little -soldiers in bright gold helmets. Next year we shall invest -in three or four thousand Daffodils for the rough places -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>under the trees, and we mean to star the banks with -Primroses and Wild Violets.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We have made a vast improvement these days by turfing -most of the walks, and we now look out on a delicious -sweep of green. The Lily Border and its opposite neighbour, -the tongue of land with the Buddleia trees and -shrubs, look infinitely more attractive thus set into the -verdure. Great clumps of yellow Polyanthuses and self-sown -Forget-me-nots make it gay while we are waiting -for the Narcissus Poeticus, the Poppies, the Lilies and -other joys to break upon us. The field of mixed Narcissus -under the trees is going to be one sheet of blossom -in a few days, blown about, though they be, poor darlings, -by these fierce and cruel winds. The papers are full of -exclamations over “winter in April”: so far our high-pitched -garden has stood it well. This is the advantage, -we suppose, of its natural backwardness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We are now fired with the desire to turf the Dutch -Garden; the path under the second terrace, <i>i.e.</i> Blue -Border, and also the path leading from the Bowling Green, -so that we shall look down on a succession of green levels, -each with its wealth of flowers. We want to make the -whole little place shine like a jewel out of the rough setting -of the moor.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>TEMPTATION</div> - -<p class='c008'>Talk of the zest of gambling! ’Tis impossible that it could -more possess the soul in defiance of purse and prudence -than the garden mania. If Loki’s Grandmother had hold -of a cheque book ‹which she hasn’t› she is afraid the family -substance would flow away from month to month into -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>bulbs and blossoms, tubers and saxifrages, clumps and -climbers; not to speak of such prosaic but necessary -accompaniments as loam, manures, lawn-mixtures and -“vaporisers.” She would build at least two new greenhouses -and double her garden staff. And perhaps after -all she wouldn’t be half as happy as she is. For she -might be led into “named novelties,” and garden rivalries, -and splendours of artificial rockeries where in the centre -of vast beds of slag some microscopic curiosity no larger -than a spider would spread a fairy claw in the shadow of -a monstrous label. Perhaps she might be bitten with an -unwholesome passion for Orchids, and spend the portion -of her only child, and all the fur grandchildren, on the -devilish attractions of those plants which are, we are convinced, -flowers of evil.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Just now her last extravagance has been to order three -and six worth of White Honesty at ninepence a dozen, -to plant in among the new Rhododendrons; and she is -suffused with satisfaction at the prospect of anything so -cheap and charming. We recommend the effect, discovered -quite accidentally.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We have really abominable weather. It is very unusual.</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Oh, to be in England,</div> - <div class='line'>Now that April’s there!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>is an aspiration justified as a rule by a tender interlude -between the tantrums of March and the asperities of -May. Last year April came in skipping like a kid on the -Campagna, even its freakishness full of attraction. Is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>anything more charming than to see the kids playing -among the flocks, as one drives along those roads of -haunting and mysterious beauty—under that sky incomparable -in its gem-like purity; to see the shepherd in his sheepskin -seated on a fence with his legs cross-bandaged, the shrill -pipe to his lips; to hear his wild strain and know that it -was all just the same a thousand years ago and more? The -kids, as they leap out of the scattered flocks, are cut against -the blue as on some classic frieze; the tawny, melancholy -plain falls and rises and falls again till the hills amethystine, -snow-capped, close the field of vision in the far distance! -The broken line of an aqueduct gleams as if golden.</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“To be in Italy,</div> - <div class='line'>Now that April’s there!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Grandmother believes she would give up her -country and Villino Loki, and expatriate herself for ever -gladly. But Italy is not expatriation, it is the home of the -soul. ‹Loki’s Grandpa says he quite admits all that—but -that for a permanency he prefers his Surrey hills.›</p> - -<p class='c008'>The fires on the Campagna are rose-carmine as the -pointed flames pulsate upwards. Our fires here are only -just the usual yellows. Where is it that Italy holds the -secret? Is it in the translucence of the atmosphere? How -the sunlight there lies on a common plaster wall! How -the stone flushes! Just a little white Villino on a hill-side -stands in a radiance of its own, and is not white at all -but topaz coloured!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>To-day, the fifteenth of April, has been as grey and bleaching -a day here as we never wish to meet again. Even -the spears of the Narcissus are bruised and drooping.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XVIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Mrs. Mutton, poor soul, has had a dead infant. It -is perhaps scarcely to be wondered at, as she had another -encounter with the water-butt shortly before the event; -but she is as much “taken-to” as if she had been hoping -to bring an heir-apparent into a realm of splendour. The -doctor, to console her, asked her hadn’t she plenty -already.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I did think it unkind of him, Miss! It does seem ’ard! -I did so seem to long for this one to live!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had a confidential conversation with the experienced -matron who was ministering to her, and we mentioned -the water-butt with some severity. But Mrs. Tosher -would have none of this. Hers is a large mind philosophy:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ho! well, you see, Miss, it’s just as it takes them. -I don’t say as Mutton isn’t a bit fond of his glass; but -after all, Miss,” she smiled indulgently, “you must remember -he was a bit upset-like. It isn’t as if there ’adn’t -been a reason. When ’e ’eard there was going to be -another, it turned ’im against ’er. Of course, poor feller! -That was only to be expected like—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Good Heavens!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Tosher smiled more broadly than ever at our -innocence.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Some men do take it very ’ard!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Words failed us. We could not reason upon such a -point of view.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At the bottom of the garden the “little cot,” as Mrs. -Adam calls it, which she and her husband have made so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>pretty, has been the scene of a similar domestic event -which makes the contrast still more poignant. A little -Eve, in fact, has been born into -our small garden of Eden. She -has received a joyful welcome. -That most attractive child, black-eyed -Adam Junior, with the -mysterious intuition of childhood -had recently been bombarding -heaven for a little -sister. He is now thrilled and -triumphant at the success of -his prayers. We personally -are quite pleased with the -addition to the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">famiglia</span></i>.</p> - -<div class='figleft id006'> -<img src='images/image142.jpg' alt='view of house from garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We wonder whether it is -because of the Italian atmosphere -that has so unaccountably -descended on Villino -Loki that we and our establishment -are really falling into -relations not unlike those which so -happily subsist between master and -servant in Italy. The Master is not master, but Father-in-chief; -the servant are not servants, but members of his -family—the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">famiglia</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were afraid our last winter in Rome had spoilt us -for English ways. We had a delightful famiglia there. -Fioravanti di Rienzo, the pearl of cooks; Camillo Lanti, -the clever, busy, and quite reasonably peculating butler; -and Aristide ‹surname unknown›, the superb coachman, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>all begged with tears to come back to England with -us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Take but a postcard,” cried Camillo, “and write upon -it ‘Camillo, come,’ and instantly I start.”</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image143.jpg' alt='man in trees' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Will ever anyone drive the Excellencies as I drive -them?” Aristide demanded. “I would learn the ways of -Londra in a day—two days. To learn the ways of Londra, -that would be nothing; but to drive another family, -that I feel I cannot ever again!”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A FEARFUL DREAM</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was Fioravanti whom we loved the -most, and whom we did really try to -get over to us later. But it was a -case of binding engagements on one -side and the other. He had given his -word, as a man of honour, to remain -a year with his new family, -and we were pledged to some new -cook at the moment when he was -free. So it all came to nothing—which -was perhaps just as well. -He was a choleric little man. -Loki’s Mamma dreamt he stabbed -the kitchen-maid and buried her in -the garden, which was not at all an -unlikely thing to happen, for, like Vatel, -his dishes were his glory, his honour was -bound up in them, and the race of -Cinderellas in this land would inflame -the blood of such an enthusiast.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>ROMAN MEMORIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>This is not to say that all Italian servants are like those -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>three. We had some very thrilling experiences in the shape -of Roman rascality during our first weeks of housekeeping -there. After the odd custom we had one woman servant -to three men; and, as the genus housemaid does not exist -at all in many parts of the Continent, we had extreme -difficulty in procuring a <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">donna di faccenda</span></i>. We had a -whole large house in the Via Gregoriana, and it was -imperative we should have something female to scrub its -bedrooms and bathrooms.—Scrub? It is not a word you -could get any Roman to understand the meaning of, much -less put into application; but still we had to get somebody -to sweep the dust into the corner or under the rug, -and pass an occasional wet rag languidly round the rim of -a bath. Loki’s Ma-Ma, being the Italian scholar of the -family, engaged the staff. She was enchanted with the -appearance of a splendid young girl from the Campagna, -with cheeks like ripe nectarines, and a coroneted black -head. Alert and brisk as a mountain kid, she seemed to -us. Alas! who could have thought it? The creature was -a bacchante! She ordered in a cask of wine all for herself, -and then ran out the second evening and never came in -till the next morning. Having danced with Bacchus all -night, she was altogether unfit for any Christian habitation -in the morning. It may be all very well to sleep off the -red fumes on a thymy bank in a pagan world; but it’s -not at all poetical or attractive at close quarters within -four walls! A sordid, pitiful, revolting business! And -the happy mountain kid, who proved after all to be only -a bad little gutter goat, had to be driven forth when -the legs that had caracoled so much were able to crawl -again.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>Aristide had a profile like the head of a philosopher on a -Roman coin. He was a magnificent driver. We had a -pair of powerful, fiery Russian horses, and they wanted -all his skill. Whenever they took to plunging—and when -they did so they struck sparks out of the stones and filled -the street with the thunder of their hoofs—Aristide’s -method of reassuring “his family” was invariably to -gather the reins in one hand and blow his nose with great -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">désinvolture</span></i> with the other. He always turned sideways -to do this, flourishing an immense pocket-handkerchief, as -one who would say: “Behold! how calm I am!... -Have no fear!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Only on the occasions when we discarded our carriage -for the use of a motor was the harmony disturbed between -Aristide and ourselves. He would droop on his box for -days afterwards and take the characteristic Roman revenge -of declining to shave.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Grandmother developed a sudden and violent attack -of influenza on one of these motor expeditions, and had to -be conveyed home in a collapsed condition.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah,” said Aristide, “if Mamma had been with me, this -would not have happened! Autos are nasty feverish -things.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We were very sorry to leave our Roman house, with its -delicious proximity to the Pincio. It was a very old -house, with a round marble staircase, deep-grilled windows, -and a delightful tiled inner courtyard filled with -green, where a fountain splashed day and night—a courtyard -into which the sunshine literally poured. A great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>many of the objects which now give us pleasure at Villino -Loki we placed originally in that double drawing-room -which the owners of the house had left in somewhat -denuded condition.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>ORANGES AND ALMOND BLOSSOM</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image146.jpg' alt='orange tree in pot' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The gardener of the Barberini Palace kept us supplied -with hired plants. Never have we seen Azaleas or -Orange trees grown like those, -with such exquisite artistic freedom. -We had a Tangerine -tree that was a complete joy. -This arrangement worked beautifully -for the first month. But unfortunately -the gardeners, father -and son, were professed anarchists -and, when they were in -their cups, their ethical principles -overcame their business sense. -Loki’s Grandmother had one -day to stand by helplessly while -Loki’s Ma-Ma was cursed and -vituperated in a foam of vulgar -Italian for innocently requesting -to have a faded Azalea replaced. -Not being able to speak Italian -herself, she could not come to the assistance of her more -talented daughter.... And both felt ignominiously inclined -to cry!... Alas! that any spot so beauty-haunted -should have been desecrated by such coarse and stupid -passions! Those gardens of the Barberini, with their -Lemon groves and Orange groves; the lush grass filled -with Narcissus and Violets, and, in the Roman way, with -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>water dripping from every corner; with the bits of columned -wall and the statues and the three great stone pines against -the blue sky! It is all Italy in one small enclosure.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We moved from the Pincian Hill to much less interesting -quarters; but, with the luck that followed us all through -that happy time, quite close to the Borghese gardens. -There we had a black-and-white tiled dining-room and a -long drawing-room all hung with pearl grey satin and a -wonderful Aubusson carpet. And when the room was -filled with almond blossom there were compensations for -the exiguity of our accommodation. The lady who was -obliging enough to accept us as her tenants ‹for a rent -that filled our Roman friends with horror at our profligate -extravagance›, although bearing a noble Austrian name, it -was darkly whispered, had a commercial origin. Her -businesslike spirit certainly showed itself in her transactions -with us; for neither blankets, nor cooking utensils, -nor the necessary glass and china were forthcoming, in -spite of magnificent assurances.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What will you?” said Fiori, our beloved little chef, shrugging -his shoulders, “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Sono Polacchi!</span></i>” “The Countess,” -he informed the young housekeeper, “sent in her maid, -and I showed her the few poor pans, the miserable couple -of pots she expected me to do with. ‘Is it not enough?’ -she cried. ‘Enough?’ I answered. ‘Enough perhaps for -your lady, for a service that is content with an egg on a -plate, or one solitary cutlet! But my noble family must -be nobly served.’”</p> - -<div class='figright id014'> -<img src='images/image148.jpg' alt='man with apron' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Excellent Fiori, he used to trot upstairs every night to -receive his orders, clad in the most spotless white garments -and a new white paper cap, which he doffed with a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>superb gesture on entering the room. Upon receiving -a well-deserved compliment, he would spread out his small -fat hands and bow profoundly, exclaiming, “My duty, -Excellency, only my duty!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>In one single instance was his entire content in our establishment -clouded; that was when, in a moment of abstraction, -he forgot to send up a dish of young peas—the -first in the market—which he had prepared with his -own superlative skill, and adorned with a pat of fresh -butter whipped to a cream at the top: “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">All’Inglese</span></i>,” -he called it. We believe he spent the evening in tears, -and he could not speak of it next day without -emotion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Useless, useless, to try and console me, Excellency,” -he exclaimed. “I am profoundly humiliated, -I shall never get over it!”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XIX</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image149.jpg' alt='path through garden' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic002'> -<p><i>The Blue Border.</i></p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The warm weather has come with a burst in this last -week of April. We have torn ourselves away from Villino -Loki to London pavements. The Floribunda trees are -covered with red buds. We expect a glory when we return. -Loki’s Great Aunt has presented his family with twenty-five -shillings worth of -purple Aubretia, with -which ‹much to Adam’s -annoyance› we have decided -to carpet the blue -border. The Blue Border, -we think, is under some evil -bewitchment. Our late gardener -assured us that no -“human gardener” could -find room for another plant. -Yet it was the only border -in the garden that “came up -bald,” if one can use such -an expression. Perhaps we -had too much initiative and -he too little; a combination -bound to result in failure sometimes, if -it is accompanied on one side by plunging -ignorance, and on the other by “slowness -of intellect, Birdie, my dear.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>To come back to one’s garden in April after ten days of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>strenuous London is a wonderful little experience for -people who care for the pure joys of the young green and -the spring flowers.—There is an indescribable panorama of -woodland beauty on the hills opposite Villino Loki. A -great marching regiment of pines, straggling upwards, -emphasize the tints of birch and larch—tints which no pen, -hardly any brush, could portray. The very sunlight -seems caught and sent forth again from the pale yet vivid -sheen. The White Broom is pearled with bud; in a few -days it will burst into bloom and toss plumes as of some -fantastic, fairy knighthood above the yew hedges that -enclose the Dutch Garden.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The dogs’ welcome to their lost masters and to Loki -‹who, of course, always accompanies his family wherever -it goes› is very genuine, and rather obstreperous. -Bettine runs in and out of the room, up and down the -furniture, as if in joyful pursuit of imaginary rats. -Arabella, fond and foolish as ever, tries to crawl into -everybody’s lap. Being about the size of a young calf, -these blandishments are not encouraged. Loki, little -Fur-man, as we call him, has a different way of expressing -his feelings. True, he runs about and yelps rapture to the -other dogs; but he sobs and cries like a child on reunion -with any of his own, and half swoons with rapture in our -arms. Sometimes it seems as if the love in his heart were -too big for his little flame-coloured body, and must burst -it in the endeavour to express his joy!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>MISUNDERSTOOD CANDOUR</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki is always very bumptious and pleased with himself -in London—being Only-dog there—but he cannot bear -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>visitors beyond a certain limit. Friends who come to tea -are very much touched and charmed at the sight of the -“dear little dog” going from one to the other, sitting -up and waving his paws with frantically imploring -gesture.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image151.jpg' alt='dog waving paws at seated visitor' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Sweet little fellow—what can he want?” they say, and -vainly offer tit-bits from the tea-table. Loki’s Grandparents -of course cannot answer, “He begs you to go -away”—but such unfortunately is the true explanation. -He sneezes with rapture when the -door is closed on the last departing -guest: he then is able to lead -his Grandmother upstairs for the -evening romp. His Grandmamma -has weak health, which is no doubt -the reason why he has fixed -on her as the only person -who understands the true -inwardness of his games. -They are very exhausting -to mere humans, and he -has a great -deal of cat -perversity in -his composition. -He spent -the whole time -of a recent -dinner-party -sitting upon a chair in full view of the company, ceaselessly -begging with prayerful paws; “Oh do, do go away!” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>As usual he evoked a great deal of undeserved sympathy—meanwhile -his tactful family held their peace.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Bettine is growing into the hobbledehoy stage. A few -weeks ago it was an entrancing spectacle to see her -playing with a butterfly on the moor. It was a yellow -butterfly, and we think it must have understood the rules -of catch-who-catch-can, for it fluttered along just ahead -of the white puppy’s nose. It was a little vision of youth -and spring to snapshot for the gallery of mental memories. -Loki’s female relations, who are given to transcendental -discussions, sometimes wonder whether in the next world -they will be vouchsafed these dear small pleasures which -make up the best of life down here. Unless we find our -animals there, there will certainly be something missing. -Surely there are flowers in Heaven, and birds—why not -those faithful creatures in which a soul seems so often -struggling into birth?</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>HEAVEN, AND OUR BEASTS</div> - -<p class='c008'>“My little god, my little god!” Maeterlinck makes the -dog say to his master. It is certain that man, in making -the dog his companion, has in some sort endowed him -with spiritual faculties. And it is this piteously loving, -confiding, blindly adoring, dumb creature that has been -selected by the “master minds” of the day as the chief -victim for the horrors of scientific research!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Indeed, that humanity should thus use its God-given -dominion over the helpless lower order of creation is an -idea so hideous that it can only have emanated from the -Powers of Darkness. All the glib arguments that this -animal torture benefits suffering man seem to us as much -beside the mark as they are immoral. Almost every crime -can be justified by some such theory, from the century-old -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>customs of child exposure in China to the modern -Suffragette outrages. And already the boundaries on -this speculative field have been extended so as to include -members of the community whose defencelessness or -unimportance preclude unpleasant reprisals. How many -unfortunate patients, for instance, are quite unnecessarily -operated upon in our great hospitals? Within our -narrow personal experience we have known cases where -life has been absolutely sacrificed to the “knife mania.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Grandmother, who feels very strongly on this -subject, has always wanted to write an article giving -chapter and verse of the facts. She would have headed -her instructive pages with the title “Killing no Murder;” -but she knows no magazine would publish them because -of the storm it would raise.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During a recent severe illness of hers, one of her nurses, -whom she used to call her “ministering devil,” was very -fond of entertaining her—at moments when the patient was -too weak for speech—with the hopes which many eminent -men of science now entertain of being able, some day, to -get a bill passed permitting vivisection on the condemned -criminal!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Why speak of such abominations in these pages dedicated -to kind, happy days and sweet garden thoughts? Only -for this reason—that it is the policy of ignoring, of -cowardly turning away from unpleasant subjects, on the -part of the great majority of the world that makes the -thing possible at all.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='figleft id006'> -<img src='images/image154.jpg' alt='bird flying outside house' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>One of the first orders we give a new gardener is that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>nothing is to be slain at Villino Loki except the Green -Fly and the Rose-Beetle. The birds may devour all our -buds, strip up our crocuses, and denude our -raspberry canes ‹if they get a chance›. The -mole may tunnel and burrow and raise his convulsive -mounds in our most -cherished lawn—and that is -certainly a test of garden -endurance—we will have no -traps! As for the squirrels, -we are afraid we have -cleared too much in our -wilderness to tempt them -now. But one of the family -actually bought little green -tables in order to spread -repasts for them near their -favourite haunt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In certain wild corners of -Dorsetshire squirrels become -almost familiars in -such households as are -kindly enough to set forth a dainty, now -and again, for the frolicsome company. -One understanding person of our acquaintance was given -to spreading nuts on a certain window-sill, where every -day the squirrels used to come and fetch them. One -morning she was a little later than usual in this attention; -on coming into the room, she was startled by a knocking -on the window, and there on the sill sat a thing, all fur and -bright eyes, knocking with its fairy paw! We think Loki -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>has a good deal of the squirrel in him. There are no -end of nice little beasts that Loki resembles. Sometimes -we declare that he is least of all dog.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE WILD PATCH</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image155.jpg' alt='flowering plant' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It is a wonder that people do not make more use of Broom -in their Wild Gardens. We have seen a woodland path -where great bushes of alternate white and yellow Plantagenista -made riot in the sunshine; but it was too -regular an arrangement to harmonize with -scene. A wild garden, however cultivated -secret, should grow as naturally as possible. -It is a rather interesting experiment -to fling the contents of a packet of wild -flower seeds about one’s banks and -unkept spaces. One forgets all about -it; and, behold! after the second -year, there are all kinds of engaging -discoveries to be made: patches of -grey-blue Campanulas, bold Foxgloves, -Loose-strife, white Campions, -all the more delightful because -forgotten and unexpected -and fitting into their surroundings -as no amount of planting -in can make them do. A giant -Mullein has just made itself a -home under the fir-trees and -stands as if it had always been -there, boldly and defiantly established in its -proper place and determined to maintain it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We caress the project of planting tall Ericas and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>Mediterranean Heaths on the borders of a certain rough -path; and in between the Heather we shall make drifts of -Colchicum, so that it may look lovely in all seasons. We -do not consider that Colchicum is properly placed in the -garden. Its summer leaf is too coarse, and it is hideous -when it dies off. Mrs. Earle has made the same remark -in one of her delightful books.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>VISCOUNTESS, AND OTHERS</div> - -<p class='c008'>It will be very interesting to see how the new Roses turn -out. A good many were ordered on the strength of the -catalogue description, from three different rose growers. -Hybrid Perpetuals do not do with us; neither do pure -Teas stand our cold, otherwise we should riot in “Lady -Hillingdon.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You never can go wrong with a Viscountess,” said his -gardener to a friend of ours.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was a man of lightning wit—as all lovers of “Savoy” -operas know.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“That is a very interesting statement of yours,” he said -in that brief, unsmiling manner that added zest to his -quaintness. “I have been given to understand the contrary.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We can go wrong with a Viscountess, unfortunately, and -do. As we have said, Hybrid Perpetuals do not behave -well with us, except, perhaps, that model of excellence, -Ulrich Brunner.—Morals are a question of climate even -with roses.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Ma-Ma ‹to be discursive—and we are afraid that this -chronicle is nothing if not discursive› was a great favourite -with this genius of mirth above mentioned, who made the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>world ring with honest laughter and whose heroic death -brought many tears, at least to Villino Loki. He used -to call her “his little Lemur” because she had a way -of clinging to her mother, in her first debutante days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Never was there a man so tender-hearted. On his -estate no wild thing was to be robbed of its life: not even -a rabbit. Loki’s Grandmother used to be a little timid in -his company, because of this gift of swift humour. She -never felt able to meet him on his own ground—except -once when in a windy June he told her that he had begun -to take his daily swim in the lake, and she shuddered at -the thought.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Cold!” he cried, “not a bit of it! Delightful! You -shall take a dip with me when next you come to us.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“No,” she retorted—and it was the only time in all their -pleasant intercourse that she was ever brave enough to -make a pass with him—“No, I had rather get into hot -water with you.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Alas, alas! That lake! We felt the menace of it even then. -It was there, trying to save another, he found his death.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It has often been said that real wit is a thing of the past. -Certainly the younger generation’s idea of pleasantry is a -kind of rough-and-tumble fight as compared to the neat, -delicate thrust-play of an older world. But this friend of -ours had a gift quite apart, a mixture of humour, wit and -satire, something dry, comic, quaint, peculiarly his own.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It reminds me,” said a clever relation of his once in our -hearing, “of an old wood carving.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We understood what he meant; the odd angles, the sharp -turns, the simplicity, the brusque sincerity—and withal -how richly genial!</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>In a single instance one of us beheld him almost meet his -match, and that in a most unexpected manner. The -pretty fairy lady, his wife, happened to comment with -surprise upon the fact that a woman who had been very -rude to her should have attempted to greet her upon a -recent occasion as if nothing had happened.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“She actually held out her hand!” she concluded.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well, my dear,” observed her lord, in his serious way, -“that is the member most usually extended.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>To the surprise of the whole table, a shy lady on his left, -who had not yet uttered a word, said in a small meek voice: -“She might have put out her tongue!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We never met that shy woman again. We should like to. -“Please will you keep your Pickle out of my preserves,” -he wrote to a neighbour whose dog was given to roving. -The neighbour bore a name well known in grocers’ lists.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>For two days the wind has been blowing over the moors -from the east. The sound of it through the trees on the -hill-side is like the roar of a torrent; and now and again it -is like the wash of waves upon the beach. A very -unseasonable wind, but it makes a grave and beautiful -music. Fortunately the Dutch Garden with its wealth -of Tulips is sheltered, or there would scarce be left an -unbruised petal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>People are very much struck by our beds of Myosotis, -surmounted by the swaying chalices of the Darwins. The -simple plan of the blue carpet for these slender May -Queens seems to them very wonderful and new.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>OAKS AND BLUE GLADES</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, look! What’s happened? Is it real? It’s like -fairyland!” cried a visitor yesterday to a sympathetic sister.—Such -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>kind people to walk about the garden with! They -have themselves a mysterious Oak wood, falling away -beneath their lawns, that is now carpeted with Bluebells: -a place to sit and dream in. Oaks are trees full of romance, -we think. They tell long stories out of the past, and speak -of Shakespeare and the glories of England, and their glades -are for ever peopled with brave figures of history or -fiction.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='tb' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span> -<a href='images/image162_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image162.jpg' alt='THE BEECH' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE BEECH</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XX</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Beeches, on the other hand, have a kind of fairy glory -about them that does not seem to belong to our land. We -drove through a beech forest the other day; the road went up -zigzagging to the top of a steep hill, and one looked down -upon the Beech glades, all golden green in a fierce sunburst -between two showers. And they were still dripping -with the rain. It was wonderful, but not English, distinctively -English, like that Oak wood. It was a <i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Märchen-Wald</span></i>. -Siegfried might have strode through it, blowing his -horn: youth incarnate, leaping out of Mime’s cave to -conquer the world. On the inspiration of such a haunt -was the <i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Wald-Musick</span></i> conceived.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>MAY AND SEPTEMBER MOODS</div> - -<p class='c008'>If we had a dwelling for every different mood, a log-house -at the top of that Beech ravine would suit us very well in -a sunny month of May. Between the great smooth boles -of the trees we would want to peep out at the flat wide -land, with the rich far woods below, misty in the sunshine; -and the distant moors as with the bloom of the -grape upon them. We would not want flowers; nothing -but that heavenly green of the young leaves against the -blue; and the whispering and the swaying of the boughs -to cradle our souls; and the thrushes and blackbirds to -sing the dawn in and the twilight out! How holy and -innocent and loving would one’s mind become after a -week in that log hut—a week alone, or with one’s best -beloved!</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image164.jpg' alt='landscape with clouds' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>After we came out from that Beech wood we took a -wrong turning, and landed ourselves far out on the downs -instead of back to our moors. Now, for another mood—say, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>a warm, still, serene September mood—why not a -small stone house in a high hollow of those downs, miles -removed from any other human habitation? Just a stone -house dumped in the hollow—pale grey, so as not to -offend the eye in that stretch of bleached -vastness, with a group of Thorns at the back -and nothing else, not even a path; only a -long way off, the vision of a white ribbon -of road, looping and twisting, running to -the sea. No flowers but the little wild, stiff, -aromatic things that push up through the -short turf. Overhead, one or two quite -round, white clouds, sailing along the -blue, caught by some high current that -hardly touches us below—the kind of -cloud that you see in an old German -print. And all about, as far as the -gaze can encompass, nothing but the -dip and rise, the scoop and billow of -the downs; and the hollows, blue on -that wonderful sun-steeped, warm, -yet bleached expanse. And the -shadows of the clouds, running -along across it; and perhaps a -lark’s song, somewhere not too -close, beaten back to earth from -an unseen height of joy; and -far, far away, the tinkle of a sheep-bell! Would not -one’s soul expand with the grand silence and the glorious -wide spaces? One would not want to hear or behold -the sea, only to taste the salt of it in every breath. Now -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>does it not seem that up there, sitting outside that stone -house, you would touch the prehistoric past? Or, rather, -that the great eternity, the never-dying essences of things, -would sink into your little passing bit of humanity? Your -soul would mirror all infinity.—A place to turn -Buddhist in!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A TUSCAN VILLINO</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image165.jpg' alt='house on hill' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>There was a pink Villino on the unusual side -of Rome. You looked in upon it through high -gates into a tangle of garden, -where everything seemed to -riot. It had an odd, incongruous -tower from which you -could surely have a vast prospect -of the plains of the -Campagna and the Alban -mountains beyond. There was -an archway in one side of it -through which one certainly -drove into some inner courtyard -of delight. That little -habitation you might covet -with a covetousness that gave -you a pain in your heart. We did.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And outside Florence, too, there was -another small house. It had been once -a farm. A certain great lady had her -spring quarters there, liking the contrast, -we suppose, between that and -the old Scotch castle where Fate had planted -her. We drove to tea with her there ‹early -May it was› through the hot, wind-swept, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>noisy Florentine streets. It was just the time of year -when the Iris was flooding the land with its penetrating -and yet not sickly sweetness. There never was any scent -so perfect. And the small pink roses were flinging themselves -over the tops of tall garden walls, as if the prodigal -Italian springtide had been at its full and left a foam of -bloom behind it. Up, up the mountain road, between -uncompromising walls and out into the freer country—and -there was the farmhouse! Its garden has left an odd -blurred impression on our minds: vaguely—a path bordered -by lush grass and gay with Apple trees—there was a storm -brewing, and all was black overhead; under the weird sky -the delicate blossoms took a curious vividness like minute -paintings.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One had to go across a red-brick kitchen to get to the -stairs that led to the two long, quaint, cool rooms, in -the farther of which the hostess sat.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>LANDSCAPE ECSTASY</div> - -<p class='c008'>She had kept the charm of simplicity there. Plain white -walls and rather empty spaces, with bits of Italian black -oak, and a painting or two; a vase of lilac, a dim missal -warmth of colour in the Persian carpets that lay on the -bricks—that was the picture. A very pleasant impression -those rooms made, with the old great lady in her high-backed -chair, clad in flowing black satin and with a white lace -that framed a face as fresh as the apple blossom without. -The storm broke as we sat there. She was nervous, and -so were some of her visitors; therefore she had the -wooden shutters closed. Perhaps she was not really -frightened, for she was as sturdy a Scotchwoman as ever -we beheld, and her bright blue eye was stern in spite of her -affability. Perhaps she only compassionated the nerves of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>her guests. Be it as it may, we sat an hour while the -thunder rolled bars of sound over our heads and the wind -whistled and the rain hissed and roared down the valley, -and the lightning kept a perpetual play between the chinks -of the shutters. And though Loki’s Grandma generally -gibbers during a thunderstorm, she never enjoyed an hour -more, so delightful was her hostess and so fascinating the -sense of isolation and strangeness, being thus shut away -amid the fury of the elements in a little Italian farmhouse! -And when the tempest was grumbling itself off in the -distance, the shutters were all thrown back and the doors -on the square wooden balcony opened. The air rushed -in, vivifying, full of the scent of the earth and charged with -ozone and perfumes. We went out on the dripping -balcony, and never, oh! never can any of us forget the -vision! For below the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">casa</span></i> the land dropped away, and -it was all vineyards; and they rose and dipped and rose -again, a sight no one has ever beheld out of Italy. And -beyond were the mountains; and the whole wide valley -was filled with mist and all of it was stained rose and -crimson from the sunset.</p> - -<p class='c008'>You may not believe it, you who read it, but it is a fact -that the valley was carmine up to the balcony, indescribably -shot with the fires of the West—a steaming cauldron -of glory! That is the kind of vision one carries gratefully -to one’s grave.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For a long time we vowed that our old age would see us, -like the Scotch Dowager, steeping our being in the joys of -Spring in a farmhouse outside Florence.—But now we -don’t know. Villino Loki has laid hold of us; it is our -real home, the rest are but dreams.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>The Master of the House saw this morning a tiny -Golden-crested Wren fluttering from stem to stem of the -tall Darwin Tulips to pick -at the Forget-me-nots -below; and every time it -pecked it twittered with -joy, so light a thing that -it scarcely swayed the -slender stalks—a fairy -vision.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image168.jpg' alt='path through garden to house' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The Hemicycle, where the -grass must be allowed to -grow lush, because of the -bulbs, until the leaves -“ripen off,” is none the -less attractive on that -account. There are eight -little square beds, each -containing a weeping standard—“Dorothy -Perkins” -or “Stella”—thickly -planted below with Forget-me-nots -and Bybloemen -Tulips. Between the beds -there is a large red pot also -filled with Forget-me-nots -and Bybloemen. The Tulips -have a kind of wild grace, coming out of the long grass; -and Myosotis, darling little creature, accommodates herself -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>in every surrounding. There is a pretty, stemmed fountain, -or rather bird-bath; in its centre, where, in a basin shaped -like a spreading lotus flower, a sturdy <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">putto</span></i> astride a dolphin -blows soundless blasts. This half-circle of vivid beauty, -with the young green grass, the swaying Tulips, the blue of -the Forget-me-nots against the moor is good to look -upon.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Beyond the Hemicycle, the Azalea Glade runs down now -in lines of orange-rose and creamy-salmon, bordered too -with Forget-me-nots. Up against it the cool silver of a -great Service-tree comes just where it makes a perfect -background; and beyond that again the rivulets of blue in -the Reserve Garden lie deep below.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>TRANSIENT COLOUR GLORIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>This is the hour of our garden’s glory. No Delphinium -muster, no spreading garlands of Roses, can equal the -exquisite freshness, the fulness of life of this May world. -With the Brooms, white and yellow; with the pink foam -of the Floribunda trees, the incomparable gold and green -of the Beech and Birch, one wants to put one’s arms round -the little place and kiss it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“So much work, so long and great a travail of nature,” -said a friend to us to-day; “ever since November, preparing -for this wonderful revelation of bloom ... and all for so -short a span! All this beauty scarce reaches its climax -but it is already on the wane!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Perhaps it is to give us an idea of the permanence of what -“eye hath not seen” beyond, that its glories are described -in terms of jewels; and yet so perversely is one made that -it is the very fragility that endears here below—a sense -of the fleeting moment that gives ecstasy its finest edge. -No, this limited humanity of ours cannot conceive the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>infinitude. It is only with those perceptions which transcend -the senses that one gets a gleam, a hint, a possibility -of once understanding. The restless mind of man for ever -demands and creates change, but the soul aspires to -immutability.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='sum' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span> -<a href='images/image173_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image173.jpg' alt='SUMMER' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>SUMMER</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XXI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>END OF SPRING, SUMMER PLANS</div> - -<p class='c008'>The last day of May. After the usual “contrariness” -of life we have spent the hot span in London, and returned -here to find that ungenial nor’west wind blowing in upon -us apparently over the same icebergs as a month ago. -We think with wails of regret of the long, golden, balmy -garden-days we missed; of the full glory of the Azaleas; -of those splendours of Rose Tulips which we should have -enjoyed, radiant in the sunshine, instead of seeing them -yawn their lives away in a hot town drawing-room. And -the Florentina Alba Irises, those delicate, fragrant, stately -things that look as if they were compounded of cobweb -and spun crystal and moonlit snow—it takes but a day to -show them in their beauty and another to wilt them—we -have missed their lovely hour too, of course. On long, -long stems, the Iris Siberica are congregating a little grove -of buds in the Blue Border; only two curving purple -darlings having outrun the rest. We shall miss them, for -the fates have decreed that we are to leave the Earthly -Paradise in a day or two once more, and that for the flat -horizons of Lancashire. Well, the best of the Spring, early -and late, is over, and we do not grudge these intermediary -days so much, though we wonder how the bedding out will -get on without our stimulating presence. We shall not -even have a finger in the “Cherry-Pie.” Lengthy plans -will have to be made. The “Miss Wilmott” Verbena -must replace, by their delicate rose, the blue of the Myosotis -carpet as well as the wonders of the many-hued Darwins, -in the two centre beds of the Dutch Garden. And in the -border beds we project a fine gathering of Antirrhinums -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>shading from crimson, through Firefly and Rose-Dorée, to -palest pink.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The terrace immediately under the house runs, according -to our invariable summer programme, to cool colours and -sweet scents. Under the dining-room and drawing-room -windows, besides the transient prospect of the White -Lilies, there are to bloom ‹until the frost lays waste› -Heliotrope and Nicotiana, with pale pink Ivy-leaf -Geranium to contrast with the mauve and purple, and -blue Lobelia to rim the outer border of White Pinks. -Against the terrace wall, between the tall Madonna Lilies, -which show good promise, and the Polyantha Roses, red -and white, with the thick edging of “Mrs. Sinkins,” Lobelia -and Petunia shall spread. The pots will bear their customary -summer burthen of rose Ivy-leaf Geraniums, with -Lobelia too, and the Zonals. We like them to flaunt -against the moor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Below, in the Blue Border, the Delphiniums and the -Anchusas, the great old-established White Rose bushes, -the steel blue Thistle, must make what show they can -over the annuals—Nigella, Gypsophila and Nemophila—not -forgetting the kind Campanulas, so dear, so faithful, -so hardy! In fine contrast, on the other side of the grass -walk, the Dorothy Perkins hedge will spread its vivid -masses, and fling out its irrepressible garlands over the -border of bright blue Nemophila we have had the -audacity to sow.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image176.jpg' alt='trees' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>And below, in the Hemicycle, the colours are to grow -cool again, with Heliotrope between the Lilies, the -Lavenders, and the Monthly Roses, and Fortune’s Yellow -and Rêve d’Or running up the supporting wall.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>The beauty of the ancient woods in that Lancashire -home from which we have just returned lingers in our -memory. Outside the park walls, the flat fields lie that -would have a charm of their own if the encroachment of -the peculiarly unlovely brick and mortar prosperity of the -district did not catch the eye on almost every side; but -within there is a sense of wonderful peace and mystery, -in the old, old woods with their Rhododendron glades. -The astonishing height of the trees -seems to keep modernity at bay, and -tells stories still of the simple, proud, -God-fearing race which has become -so associated with the very -spot of earth that has borne -and nurtured them for -many centuries, that, like -one or two other families -in England, their name in -absolute legality is not -complete without the territorial -appendage.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE DISAPPEARING SQUIRE</div> - -<p class='c008'>We hear every day that “the -Squire” is a being of the past. -We know that every effort of -present-day legislation is to -abolish what was once the strength -of England; what might still be its -strength, if the restless and destructive -spirit of the age would permit it.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>The young owner of those old lands ‹who has just been -our host› is one who will, we hope, keep up the traditions—so -fast dying out, or being stamped out—a little longer. He -is, as his grandfather was, the centre of his own people, -the shepherd of his flock. Not quite to the same extent, -perhaps: we do not suppose, for instance, that he is both -maker and depository of their wills, or that he is summoned -to every tenant’s deathbed as was that kindly, -sturdy old Lancastrian his grandsire.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Hurry, Jimmy, hurry!” the afflicted wife and mother -would say. “Run oop to the Hall and tell Squoire to -coom along quick, for feyther’s at his last!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Neither would he undertake to mend the broken leg; or -patch up the conjugal quarrel. But the young Squire will -still hear such a phrase as this at election time: “What <em>we</em> -wants to know is which way Squoire’s voting? Squoire’s -man is the man for we!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He will let his cottages at eighteen pence a week; and the -larger the family is the smaller will be the rent. And the -claims of the tenant will be attended to before his own. -He seems as much part of them as they are part of him. -Has anyone ever heard of a labourer on a large estate -being in destitution? We never have. Our great landowners -do more to provide for their own dependents and -keep down pauperism than any frantic legislator or wholesale -philanthropist. But the system is to go; we have -the best authority for it, the authority of those in power. -God help England and England’s poor peasants, say we, -when they have their way!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image178.jpg' alt='woman in front of landscape' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We can speak with examples under our eyes. Every time -a bit of an estate is sold, hereabouts, the cottages thereon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>are purchased by the local grocer or butcher: and up goes -the rent that had been three and six or four shillings a week -to seven and six and ten shillings. Here, where we live, there -are practically no important landowners, and what is the -result? Not the most miserable cottage to be had under -seven and six a week, a rent liable to be raised at a -moment’s notice. The butcher, the baker, these are the -“landlords,” and the rent they exact is exactly what they -know they can extract out of the unfortunate tenant, in -the present state of cottage scarcity. We ourselves have -spent weeks in striving to secure a roof for a wretched -woman with three little children, whose husband had -attempted to murder her and after her escape had danced -upon all her furniture, and burnt the remnants. We had -to engage a cottage three months in advance, and then -the rent was eight and six a week! She was a stupid -poor goose of a woman, who couldn’t do anything for -her living except an occasional day’s charing or rough -washing. Of course we ought to have let her go to the -workhouse; but we didn’t. We guaranteed the rent instead -and took in the eldest boy as an unneeded garden -assistant. ‹He is rather like a -garden slug, so we thought he -ought to be at home -in the borders›! The -other day a local -tradesman raised the -rent of a cottage -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>sixpence a week upon the hard-working mother of a large -family, who occasionally comes in “to oblige” at Villino -Loki; and when she remonstrated he humorously remarked -that Mr. Lloyd George was “driving him to it!”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE REFRESHING FRUIT</div> - -<p class='c008'>There is a proverb that “good wine needs no bush.” The -Chancellor’s efforts to convince his victims of the comfort -of the plaster which is blistering them are almost pathetic. -But surely it is another proof, if one were needed, of the -weakness of his cause. A local laundry owner has been -receiving six pounds a week, lecturing, in Devonshire of -all places, on the blessedness of the Act as experienced by -himself and staff. One of our district nurses, a delightful -sturdy North Country woman, was “approached” as to -whether she would undertake, for a consideration, to use -her persuasiveness with her patients and make them see -how much they were benefited by the stamp tax. She -declined with a heat that may have astonished the emissary.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It must indeed be a little difficult to make, say, a struggling -greengrocer understand the debt of gratitude he owes to -the law which constrains him to pay fourpence a week for -the assistant he can so ill afford as it is and mulct that discontented -youth of threepence! More especially when baker -and grocer charge him more to cover their own losses.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The obvious remedy, says Mr. Lloyd George, is for the -greengrocer to raise the prices in his town! He does; and -somehow it doesn’t work. Being in a poor district and all -his patrons being poor, they buy less from him, and he -buys less from them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But look at the comfort in sickness!” It is tiresome, it -almost seems like putting bad will into it, that the greengrocer’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>wife should develop consumption before the first -stone of any sanatorium is ready!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Now, that prosperous, contented class, the labourer on -the great estate, a man who lives on his lord’s lands, if -not rent free, very nearly so, with wood and garden -produce, potatoes, milk and what not, and steady employment -all the year round, he is to be benefited—save the -mark! A “minimum wage,” cheap housing, the fixed -hours, the sacred half-holiday, it sounds so plausible! -The propagandist is volubly at work. “No wonder,” -as the young Squire we have recently visited once ruefully -said to us, “my decent, contented, God-fearing -villagers were turned in a couple of hours into shrieking, -blaspheming lunatics by such a gospel, preached with -forcible arguments in the public-house.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Of course they will get their demands. Striking, with -“peaceful picketing,” generally gets its way, even if not -backed up by Government emissaries and the glorious -visions flash-lighted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. -But what will be the result? Half the amount of employment -on the estates of those who can still afford to -keep them, and no all-the-year-round engagements. When -the work is slack the over-paid and inimical labourer will -naturally be discharged. We say inimical, for how can -friendly relations be maintained if the old solidarity is -destroyed? This, of course, is what is aimed at; and -the quack remedy, the patent pill alluringly held aloft, is—State -ownership of land! The land is to be managed like -the Workhouse, the Prison, and the Reformatory, of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>which, we are all aware, the British State makes such a -brilliant success. We know how the poor love the -Workhouse, and how happy they are in it; yet one can -scarcely take up a police report without finding some -desperate pauper sentenced for revolt. Oh, no doubt it -will be a Merry England when these disinterested and -dashing tinkers get their way.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A HAVEN OF REST</div> - -<p class='c008'>We have known, in parenthesis, a pauper establishment, -run by voluntary effort, in which a hundred and fifty old -men and ninety old women were kept happy and contented -by a handful of soft-voiced nuns. No need to call -in the policeman, in Portobello Road; for there old age is -reverenced at once and pitied, and the double aspect of -the most natural of all the commandments is put into -every-day practice, so unobtrusively and simply that no -one can guess how heroically.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the religious question will soon be treated in the same -way as the land question; so no invidious comparisons need -be drawn. Little boys and little girls are to be taught that -the State is henceforth to take the place of God in their infant -minds. How comfortable and warm a creed! How it -will strengthen their character for living, and ease the -thoughts of the dying. There is no God: but there is a -Chancellor of the Exchequer and a dashing gentleman at -the Home Office. You have not been created or redeemed, -little boy! We have no prayers to teach you. -There are no divine commandments which you need obey—naturally, -since there is no Divine Father. There are -no sacraments to sustain and elevate your soul—for little -boys and girls have no souls! But cheer ye: you were -evolved by a natural process, and the State is here to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>cradle and instruct you and to make life beautiful for you. -Behold, dear children, the Book of the Laws. These laws -which you are bound to keep—unless, of course, you go -on strike, become a Suffragette, or organize political -vote catching. And this is a picture of a Jail for people who -are so blind as to refuse Insurance blessings; behold that -inspired countenance. That is the head of the Government! -And for Sunday amusements there is the Cinema—the -Crippen case, dear children; the Houndsditch Burglary -and the Train Smash.... And when the new theories -have developed and matured, there will be no such thing -as private property in anything to constrain the free mind -of emancipated man—A house of your own, a wife to -yourself!—fie!</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Surely, surely,” said a young Liberal M.P., “no sanely -thinking person would continue to advise religious education -in the schools. What is the inevitable result—see the -case in your own Church” ‹he was speaking to a Catholic› -“the law commands one thing, and the Church another! -Take divorce, for instance. Surely, surely—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Dear me,” said the Catholic. “We had not looked at it -in that light. The laws man made are, then, above the -laws God made?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Surely, surely you would not teach little children to -disobey a law of the land made for their benefit?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We ventured to say that the ten commandments had -forestalled—</p> - -<p class='c008'>His pitying smile arrested us; so infinitely was he above -the ten commandments.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Yesterday Loki’s family motored energetically some -fifty miles and back to a garden party near London.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A wonderful house with wonderful lawns and gardens—one -feels that the hideous tide of brick and mortar must -inevitably sweep over and destroy it before another -generation comes and goes, so that there is a kind of -pathos in its very beauty.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image183.jpg' alt='flower' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Out of the unlovely mean streets along which the tram-line -runs its abominable way, one turns off into the cool -country road. The long avenue is bordered by wide fields -where, as we passed yesterday, the new-mown grass was -lying in silver furrows. The country is quite flat; but the -richness of the green, the incidents of lake and timber, -give it a placid English fairness of its own.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Lady of Villino Loki went with a keen -eye to garden hints, and her first thrill was a -Honeysuckle screen in the little garden of the -second lodge. Such a Honeysuckle screen! -It had once, she supposes, been an arch, for -it rose to a kind of gable peak in the centre, -but it was filled in either by design or natural -luxuriance till it was a complete mass of bloom, -a solid wall of blossom. Never had she beheld -such a thing before. She wants Honeysuckle -at the Villino, as she said already, and she is -fired with fresh enthusiasm. Why should she -not have a hedge of Honeysuckle, not too far -from the house itself? It is settled. She will buy -fifty in November and try.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>The weather, which had been misty, thundery and unpromising, -cleared just upon our arrival at the great -“Adam” house. The lawns were in their perfection, the -shade of the Cedars was cut out on the sun-golden turf, the -massed flowers were vivid against their cunningly devised -backgrounds. Naturally Villino Loki, even in its wildest -dreams, cannot emulate this great and carefully cherished -place; but one can find practical suggestions here and -there. We cannot mass rare and golden-hued Maples -over a broad band of yellow Calceolarias anywhere on -our terraced lawns; but it is very instructive to see the -management of certain herbaceous borders, where three or -four large pillars of Rambler Roses alternate with mauve -and silver-leaved Japanese Maples at the back; the foreground -being of the usual herbaceous order.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had no idea that the dwarf bright yellow Evening -Primroses would look so well grouped together. And -Nemesia, “Heavenly Blue,” has become the one annual -our souls long for: blue flowers are all too rare.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Everything was most kindly labelled. We do not know -if it is possible to obtain any seedlings this time of year; -but certainly, next year, this adorable little plant, Nemesia, -with its most exquisite turquoise blue colourings and its -splendid efflorescence, shall enter largely into our schemes. -In between the Nemesia, bushes of Campanula Persicifolia -rose with cool restrained tones; the contrast was one to -be copied also.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another not impossible example was a Rose screen, -starting with a background of close growing Ramblers, -some ten or twelve feet high, supplemented midway by -some of the larger Bush Roses and running down to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>edge of the turf in front with pegged-down Teas; so that, -to the very top, it was one mass of varied bloom. We do -not see any reason why such an effect should not be -copied, even in a small garden.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The <em>standard</em> Scarlet Geraniums we must admire from a -respectful distance. They are as much beyond our -humble resources as the <em>standard</em> Heliotrope we so much -admired a year ago in a millionaire’s huge grounds not -very far from us. These last rose out of a bed of mauve -Violas. The ambitious soul of the mistress of the Villino -hungered to copy it; but she knew that hunger would -never be assuaged.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>PICKING UP WRINKLES</div> - -<p class='c008'>We have had a frightful disappointment in the “Miss -Wilmott” Verbenas. For two summers it has been the -same story. Last year they came up “all colours,” -though purchased from a well-known firm! This year, to -make quite sure, we ordered seedlings to be specially -grown for us from a local nursery. The wretch has sent -a collection of measly little starveling things which cannot -be expected to do anything for weeks and weeks. Of -course they should not have been accepted; but the deed -was done in our absence. We are much inclined to have -the beds cleared, and Heliotrope or rose-coloured Ivy-leaf -Geraniums put in instead. It is too late for anything else. -Gardeners are so tiresome! They are as bad as cooks, -who will accept with perfect equanimity, fish ready to -illustrate the proverb and game prepared to walk to its -own funeral, and then say that “they thought it was ‘a -bit high’ perhaps, but they weren’t quite sure!”</p> - -<div class='figright id015'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span> -<img src='images/image186.jpg' alt='flowers' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We have forced for the house several plants of -Canterbury Bells, glorious purple and white, which -have grown to an extraordinary size and fill the -Compton pots on the landing in very decorative -fashion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The front landing and stairs are wondrous pretty -in the Villino: and the colour scheme—Tangerine -yellow for the curtains and grey for the carpet—somehow -suits the little place, with its Roman air. -In the round bow window there is a large copy -of the Samothraki Nike on a white stand; and in -front of her we place flower-pots all the year round—generally -Orange trees in the winter, with which -we are successful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Alas! we leave the little Paradise to-morrow! -However, we are still in such an intermediary -stage that we mind less than when we lost all -the glories of the Azaleas. For anyone of an -impatient disposition, this time of the first setting -out of the bedding plants is a trying ordeal. We -are going this afternoon on a surreptitious round -with “plantoids” to which Adam objects, but in -the virtues of which we are believers.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>PITFALLS OF AMBITION</div> - -<p class='c008'>The longer we labour at garden experiences, the more it is -borne in upon us that ambitiousness is to be avoided. -No amateurs—however splendid their visions may be—should -attempt “Wild Gardens,” or “Bog Gardens” on -their own unaided efforts. This does not refer to the -flinging of wild-flower seeds in woodland glades, but to the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>digging up of harmless and unobtrusive patches of field -and bank for the insertion of seedlings, which apparently -will never be at home in that particular aspect and soil. -The worst of it is that the energetic workers are so -ensnared by the mental vision that they very often fail to -perceive the paltriness of the material result.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We had to have the meadow mown and to dig it up, -just along there,” said an energetic gardening neighbour -to us the other day, pointing out with pride a dreadful -stretch of raw and muddy earth that lay meaninglessly -along the lush field. “And we <em>think</em> the things will do -now.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The things—poor little sprigs of white Violas, and other -most unadaptable garden children—were looking very ill -and faint at long distances from each other. And in any -case, even if they were eventually to flourish, the meadow -was quite beautiful enough in itself and needed no such adornment. -But we had not the heart to tell her so. We said, -“How nice that will be,” but took the lesson to ourselves.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>TANTALISING NOVELTIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>A visit to the Horticultural Show at Holland House—even -the humblest gardener can take away lessons from -these displays of lavish beauty. We wonder whether it -would be possible for us to have a pool anywhere upon -our sandy height. And, if so, why should we not build -rough rock-work round it on one side; fill it with the cool -misty mauve of the Nipeta, the cool pale yellow spires of -the Dwarf Mulleins, and the faint pinks of Spiræa; and -against this background, walled about by a bank of the -mysterious Iris “Morning Mist,” let a little slender lead -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>statue rise out of the water? Coolness and mystery! -Shall we ever encompass that delightful effect?... The -flat flagged paths on the other side of the water should be -bordered by Iris; and they should dip down into the pool -itself, where just two or three Water Lilies should rock -their gold-centred cups. Oh, dear! If we had sufficient -money how beautiful we could make our corner of the -earth!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Oh, and the Clematis!—It was a shock to find that we -had to pay seven and sixpence each to go in, but it was -worth it, for we have plunged to the extent of a dozen -adorable Clematis from the very fountain head—if one can -so strain the poor English language—of Clematis culture -itself.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And the Roses! “Coronation,” a new bright scarlet -climbing Wichuriana; Tausendschön and Blush Rambler, -old favourites, but so beautiful! There were two or three -pillars of unnamed seedlings, exquisite apple-blossom -beauties, which we longed to purchase, but which were -not yet in the market. A firmer, richer apple-blossom best -describes the bloom of the new discovery.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Quite beyond our pockets, but most attractive, were the -standard Ivies, golden and variegated, fifteen years old -... at the modest charge of six guineas each! Could -we ever wait fifteen years to see such developments? -After all, why not? The grower assured us they were -perfectly hardy, and more they were cut the better. They -would look charming on the terrace. Such balls of -gold!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Lilies at the top of a rock-garden or at the top of a rough -wall have a most charming effect.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>We have invested in three and sixpence worth of new -fertiliser guaranteed to “produce an appearance like dark -green Utrecht velvet in ten days on the roughest lawn.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Would you like your lawn to look like that, Madam?” -asked the red headed youth in charge of squares that didn’t -look in the least like real grass, but a kind of artificial -compound as above mentioned.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Very much!” said one of us, who was struck by the -unnatural hue and smoothness of the exhibit.—“Do mind -the sun on your head!” she added parenthetically to the -delicate member of our party, who is always on her mind. -“Oh, pray Madam, do not trouble to shade me,” said -the red-haired youth modestly. “I am quite all right, I -assure you.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We had a vision of Loki’s Ma-Ma in her quaint Directoire -dress, all striped black-and-cream chiffon and dim orange, -with her absurd little Directoire tulle hat and its one -coquettish rose ‹absurd but not unbecoming› spending the -rest of the afternoon in sudden philanthropic frenzy, -shading the red-haired youth from the July sunshine, while -he volubly touted for orders for patent fertilisers! Innately -polite, we explained. He was not in the least -abashed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I do feel it very hot,” he remarked simply.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Loki is once more Only-dog in London. He is unspeakably -grimy, as none of the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">famiglia</span></i> except Juvenal -are ever able or willing to tub him when he most -wants it. Juvenal, his special friend, has been away on -his holiday—poor little Loki could not understand his -absence. He was perpetually rushing out of the rooms -and downstairs to see if he had arrived. At last, worn -out with suspense, he dashed up to his butler’s bedroom -and would not be satisfied till he was admitted; when, jumping -on the bed, he began to tear up the clothes, believing, -we suppose, that Juvenal shared his propensity for curling -under the quilt. Odd little dog! He has as many moods -as a fine lady, and when really annoyed lies in a strained -attitude with his hind paws stuck outward like the embryo -legs of a little crocodile. This is the sign that he wants -“a powder”: what we call in our playful dog-language, -“a pow-pow.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>FREEMASONRY OF DOG-LOVERS</div> - -<p class='c008'>What a freemasonry the love of dogs creates! Loki’s -Grandfather, travelling up from our moors the other day, -met a family likewise going to London; and these had -with them a small Pekinese, who sat very sadly with -drooping head and tail. The owner of Loki watched him -sympathetically for some time in silence, then unable to -repress his feelings, he leant forward and said very solemnly -to the Pekinese’s lady:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“This little dog wants a pow-wow!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh! we know,” eagerly cried the lady in charge, “we -know he does! He should have had it this morning, only -we were travelling.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>We were pleased with the anecdote when Loki’s Grandfather -told us. No introductions, no explanations needed: -even our own special doggy dialect instantly apprehended! -One touch of Peky makes the whole world kin.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>A divine discontent seems an unavoidable accompaniment -of garden ambition. The Lady of Villino Loki is always -furiously disappointed every time she returns home—except -in the Spring. She had, this time, wonderful -visions of her Madonna Lilies, proudly -straight against the upper terrace -wall; of her Blue Border -foaming blue; of her new -turf settling down into -greenness. And, behold, -the Lilies have got the -lily disease, drat them! -the Blue Border never -will be blue, whatever -she does; the Anchusas -have gone back to the -wild; and not one drop -of water has the infant -turf received through -three weeks of drought -since her departure—with -the results that can be -imagined!</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image191.jpg' alt='man working in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Not one of our precious packets of seed -have come up! We once knew a pretty -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>American whose daughter married a rather impoverished -young Englishman of very good connexions. He was, -however, scarcely important enough himself to attract -much attention: and the day before the wedding he was -nonplussed by his future mother-in-law, hitherto the most -silky and smiling of beings, taking him by the arm and -marching him round the displayed wedding presents, pausing -at every step to remark: “I do not see the present of your -uncle, Lord A.! I do not see the present of your cousin, -Lady B.! I do not see the present of your great aunt, the -Duchess of C.!”...</p> - -<p class='c008'>We want to take the seedsman in similar fashion round -the greenhouse shelves:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Where are the pots of Mignonette?” we will say. -“Where the serried ranks of Scarlet Verbena? Where are -the potted Nicotianas?”...</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXIV</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The Master of the House—he has -admitted it himself somewhere in these -pages—understands little -if anything of gardener’s -art: that is, of the art of -rearing flowers in their -proper seasons, in suitable -ground and so forth. But -he complacently believes -that he has an aptitude for -what, on a larger theatre -of operations than the few -acres of Villino Loki, -would be called Landscape -Gardening! He -imagines that, had fate -provided him with an -“estate,” he would -have been great at devising -vistas, grouping -trees, laying out pleasing curves of approach, and all that -sort of thing.</p> - -<div class='figright id005'> -<img src='images/image193.jpg' alt='men in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>At the Villino this imaginary special competency could -only find an opening in clearance work. And when we -first bought this strip of hill-side, clearance was indeed no -small matter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With the exception of the terraces immediately round -the House and of the kitchen yards about the Cottage, -the whole place was a congeries of almost impenetrable -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>thickets, interspersed with patches of heather and furze. -There were but two paths, running down, in purely utilitarian -lines, from the higher level to that of the cottage <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">potager</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>‹What has been achieved since then in the matter of path-cutting -can be made patent by a glance at Mr. Robinson’s -perspective map of the Villino grounds.›</p> - -<p class='c008'>So thick and strenuous was the growth of underwood—self-sown -infant Hollies, adolescent Larches and Pines, -young Ashes, Oaks and Chestnuts in their nonage, all -interlocked, entwined in Brambles and Honeysuckle, that -hardly anywhere could the trunks of the full-grown trees -be distinguished.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now it is obvious that the beauty of wooded grounds -depends essentially upon light effects under the foliage and -between the boles; upon distant peeps. In no direction -ought the view ever to be solidly stopped—unless, of course, -where it is desired to hide some unpleasing prospect. It -may therefore be erected into a maxim that, if trees are -to be enjoyed, underwoods must be sacrificed wholesale.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>At first, with that reverence for things which, if they may -be laid low at one blow or two of the billhook, require -many years for their growth, one feels inclined to hesitate. -One’s heart rebels at the thought of cutting off in the -flower of its youth the sapling that in the spring is of so -tender green, the bush of name unknown but engaging -enough—if there were not “so many of him.” But it soon -becomes evident that you must harden your heart and -ruthlessly slash away the bulk of undergrowths, for good -and all.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>And this has been the province of the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">padrone</span></i>. And -although on many an occasion at first the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">padrona</span></i> bewailed -bitterly, almost tearfully, that he -was making the place “simply -scald,” it is now generally admitted -that the result has proved a matter -for congratulation.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image195.jpg' alt='man working in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE PROBLEM OF HOLLY</div> - -<p class='c008'>There have been a few mistakes, -no doubt. It was not easy, for instance, -in the case of Holly, and -perhaps also of Rowan, for the beginner -to distinguish which clump -was likely to bear the decorative -winter coral and which not. Seeing -what some of our Hollies in a good -season can be ‹that which closes -the prospect at the north end -of our Hemicycle, for example, -what a glory of pure scarlet it -displays when all bright colours have -disappeared from the garden!› we -regret not to have spared a few more. -Nevertheless, it is a wise decision, in -grounds overgrown by underwood, that <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">delendum est Ilex -Aquifolium</span></i>—that Common Holly must go.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the first place, nothing will grow under the shade of its -dark leathery, spinous leaves, which, even when shed, are -more indestructible and noxious to grass than pine needles -themselves. And, secondly, Holly is a very bully and brigand -among growing trees. Its vitality and pushfulness over-masters -everything. Your young Holly will thrust aside -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>the sturdiest neighbouring branches; will conquer its “place -under the sun” to the detriment of the equally fair claims -of Oak, or Ash, or anything that strives upward.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No—the right place of Holly is in the close-set hedge, for -which its forbidding, never-failing foliage and its vigorous -growth pre-eminently fit it. Or, again, in a dignified -isolation where it can, without truculent self-assertion, -develop on all sides its regular, shapely growth, look -beautiful at all times in its evergreen sheen; and, if of the -fruit-bearing sex, relieve with its scarlet the browns of -autumn and the white of a winter landscape.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The first spot to be assailed was the area now called the -Blue-bell Glade, the interior of which was then <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">terra incognita</span></i>. -It had to be tackled like a fortress—by regular sap. -Nothing was spared but the full-grown trees. Terrible was -the destruction, and gigantic the accumulation of small -firewood for future use. But great was the landscape -result: it gave us our first far-reaching perspective along -our own ground. We had, of course, fine and wide views -over the tree-tops from the highest terrace. But now we -obtained, in one direction at least, a middle-distance prospect -of green fields between the boles under overhanging -branches. And the effect was singularly satisfying.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And so the war on undergrowth was carried-on, -with system, until the present pleasing condition was -reached, when in every direction the eye is able to find, up -hill or down, either some far view of moor or valley, or -some corner of the grounds themselves, now grass-grown -or bright with flower-beds.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>Grass—that was what Villino Loki most wanted! And -the extirpation of the greatest enemies to grass—Brushwood, -Heather, Gorse, and Bracken—has been the hardest -achievement of all: one which Grandpa is fond of letting -every one know is more especially his own.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE GREAT CLEARANCE</div> - -<p class='c008'>The Great Clearance took place in what may be called -the pre-Adamite age of this little Earthly Paradise. Adam -‹in a kind of fateful way› only appeared upon the scene -after the rougher work had been dealt with of letting in -the air and light of heaven wherever it had hitherto failed. -He arrived, of his own initiative, to offer his services in -the matter of <em>gardening</em>, on the very day when his predecessor—one -Grinder, whom on benevolence intent we -had allowed to assume the duties of “gardener,” save the -mark!—had had at last to be dismissed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The late Grinder, whatever his disqualifications for the -honourable title thrust upon him may have been, was -undoubtedly a lusty worker. But the Great Clearance -was too great a task for one man. It was thus, by the -way, that Caliban ‹likewise now “the late”› was introduced -as labouring assistant, and, from the nature of his -labours, known as the Woodman.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The elimination of underwoods, however, was by no -means the most arduous task. Let once the good light -of day and the free airs penetrate to the ground hitherto -obscured and choked, and in a given time grass will make -its appearance. And it will spread healthily if the lower -branches of all standing trees are lopped, up to a suitable -height. But we wanted grass not only in the glades, but, -if possible, upon every stretch of soil not devoted to -flowering beds or ornamental bush. And, to that end, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>the Heather and the Gorse had likewise to be banished in -perpetuity. With miles of Heather and Gorse-clad moors -about one, Ericas of any kind, and certainly Ulex, however -delightful in themselves and in their native habitat, -are distinctly <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">de trop</span></i> in the garden.</p> - -<div class='figleft id007'> -<img src='images/image198.jpg' alt='leafy branches' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Seen in wide masses, and whether in the brown, green, or -purple stage, Heather, as we know, is an ever -beautiful cloak to the earth. But except at the -height of its flowering richness, when it occurs -in scattered patches, its effect is apt to be -rusty and unkempt. As for the Gorse—gorgeous -as it undoubtedly be at its full -golden time when seen in clumps on down -or roadside—it has, at close quarters, a -ragged, dusty, almost leprous appearance -which quite unfits it for cultivation. -It would seem as though all its -vital beauty were driven out to the flowering -tops: its inner and lower portions are always -dried up, and scabby as from some withering sickness. -Such, at least, is always the case with the -full-grown plant; though, when very young, or when -springing anew from a shorn stump, it remains for some -time pleasingly green all over.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE PROBLEM OF GRASS</div> - -<p class='c008'>To the uninitiated it may appear simple enough to pluck -up the Heather; but how soon will he be brought face to -face with the dismal fact that, for grass-growing purposes, -this superficial treatment is of no avail whatsoever! The -peaty soil, product of untold generations of Heather, -spongy to a depth of many inches, matted with the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>fibrils of roots, is absolutely antagonistic to grass of -any description. The roots of the Furze, on their side, -deep-reaching, far-spreading and tenacious, are simply -rejuvenated and rejoiced by the lopping of the plant above -ground. You may think you have done with it: behold! -within a very few weeks saucy spriglets of brightest green -Gorse will merrily make their appearance and claim the -land again as their own!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image199.jpg' alt='men working in field' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Any seed sown on such a bed is merely so much food -offered to the fowls of the air. The Master of the House -had to learn that lesson practically, and lost a couple of -seasons in so doing. ‹As may plainly be seen, he was a -thoroughgoing ignoramus in that quarter; and he was not -likely to be set right by Mr. Grinder!› It was only when -Adam supervened and pointed out the necessity of -trenching the ground, ridding it of its centuries-old tangle -of fibre, overturning and pressing it, that the desired green -result could at length be obtained. But the overturning -demanded the combined work of pickaxe, fork, and cutting -spade. It produced an incredible amount of underground -wood, tough, sappy, and seemingly incombustible; and it -kept Caliban occupied for many a long week.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We have now many promising verdant roods, destined in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>time to be improved into lawns, where hitherto Heath -and Whin held their sway. But the spaces lately freed -from underwoods, which we so fondly hoped would turn -of themselves into grassy glades and dells, provided us -with new Heraclean labours.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>WAR ON BRACKEN</div> - -<p class='c008'>Have I named Bracken?—Bracken! an everlasting problem -on such a piece of land as ours, which less than a -century back was undoubtedly part of the wild moorland -itself. Nothing, it seems, but thorough overturning will -really and finally rid the soil of the unconscionable Bracken—the -ubiquitous, the imperishable, the exasperating Pteris -Aquilina!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>This knowledge has been impressed on us by the experience -of successive years. Our first inkling of it was -when, returning to the Villino after a few months’ absence -and fondly anticipating to find our precious glades ‹which, -after the Great Clearance, had been generously sown -with grass› covered with a tender-green, thickly-piled -carpet, we were confronted with waving fields of lusty -Brake already breast high.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In itself the sight was not displeasing; the young verdure -was cool to the eye and did not greatly impede the view. But -what we wanted was Grass. Grass which, in course of -time and at their proper seasons, Crocus Vernus, Primrose, -Blue-bell and Daffodil, Foxglove, and Colchicum Autumnale -would star and illumine with colour.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now, where the Brake thrives, it takes unto itself the -whole bounty of the sun, and stifles all plant-life of lesser -height than itself.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>We disconsolately took advice from presumably competent -persons.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh,” said Everybody, with confidence, “you can -get rid of Bracken if you cut it twice in the same -year.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Can you?”—and here the Master of Villino Loki, in a -state of inveteracy and resentment foreign to his usually -placid character, feels he must again speak in the first -person—“Can you?” ‹this is sarcastic› “I tell you, sir, -that for the last three years I have cut that infernal -Bracken, not twice in the twelvemonth, but four times -and more—and look at it!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>You may imagine me pointing, with an indignation difficult -to repress, to some corner of the cleared ground that does -not happen to have been visited <em>quite</em> lately by the spud or -the furze-cutter.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“This,” I say with emphasis, “I myself purged of all -visible Bracken only last month!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now, as a matter of fact, the space in question, if not -actually covered with the pertinacious fronds, is dotted -with scores, nay hundreds, of forceful shoots; some still -cosily curled up in their “crosier” stage, others impudently -stretching themselves under the sun and persisting, -in spite of all edicts, in screening its rays from the hard-struggling -grass. What chance has humble grass against -a thing that will sprout three inches in one night? And, -if you look closer, you perceive a host of baby offshoots -cheerfully pushing from some deep-burrowing ancient -subterranean body, its innumerable little bald heads -between the sorely tried, recently established grass settlements.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>Twice cut, forsooth!—Why, to this day, in the very -middle of paths made three years ago ‹“Three—years-ago—sir!”›, -you will discover here, there, and there again, -a healthy shoot, sappy and erect, balancing its bright -green plume right in the way, as if in defiance of all -extermination.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No—the most that can be claimed as a result of the war -which is still being waged upon the Brake is that, perhaps, -this pertinacious growth is beginning to betray some signs -of discouragement. The ranks of the legions, as they -make their periodical reappearance with an obstinacy -worthy of a better cause, grow a trifle thinner year by -year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“If you only cut them young,” says Adam, consolingly -but with cruel imagery, “they say the roots will bleed to -death.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This—Corporal Nym would hint—is as may be. As in -the case of our wonderful forbears, bloodletting in the -Spring, if not really conducive to better health, seems -to interfere little with their thriving. Meanwhile, happily, -as no scion of Pteris Aquilina ‹if it cannot really be prevented -from cropping up where it chooses› is now allowed -ever to reach its baleful maturity, the desired and much-petted -grass is gradually establishing itself. And, with -that eager optimism in gardening matters which is a -characteristic of the family at Villino Loki, we look -forward, in a few years, to the prospect of a succession -of grassy carpets from crest to foot on our hillside.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But this consummation, much desired, can, we are aware, -only be secured by unremitting labour. Sometimes the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>Master of the House ‹who, having rashly vowed to -achieve the task, considers himself bound to see it -through himself› is assailed by something very like misdoubt -as he rests awhile upon his spud, blunted by -some two hours’ punching at sporadic croziers, and computes -the remaining roods, nay, the acres, still to be -dealt with ...</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>If seven men, with seven spuds</div> - <div class='line'>Should punch for half a year ...</div> - <div class='line'>...?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Rock of Sisyphus!—Cask of the Danaides!—Hydra of -Argolis, with the unquenchable heads!—these and others -are similes that fatally drift into his meditations.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>HAUNTING RHYMES</div> - -<p class='c008'>When engaged upon work of protracted and futile iteration—such -as “Bracken-chivvying”—tags of inane rhymes -are apt to invade the hypnotized brain: of the kind that -sometimes rise in accompaniment to the steady bumping of -railway wheels on certain slow journeys. A particularly -haunting one—to be conjured off if possible—is the -“Nightmare” jingle, Mark Twain’s, I believe:</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Punch/, conduc/tor, punch/with care,</div> - <div class='line'>A green/trip-slip/for a two/cent fare,</div> - <div class='line'>A pink/trip-slip/for a three/cent fare,</div> - <div class='line'>Punch/, punch/, punch with care ...</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>and so on relentlessly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If these are not the exact horrid words, this is the way -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>they come back to me, giving a lilt to vindictive spud -work.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At another time, the apparent futility of all efforts to come -even with the task at hand will evoke some such iterative lines -as Cyrano’s dying vision of eternally resurging enemies:</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Je sais/bien qu’à/la fin/vous me/mettrez/à bas</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">N’impor/te, je/me bats/, je me/bats, je/me bats!</span></i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id016'> -<img src='images/image204.jpg' alt='stairs in garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>This sort of absolutely -incongruous haunting is -an instance of what -Hoffmann would have -fondly called the <i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Zusammeverhängniss -der Dinge</span></i> -or “fatally-concatenated-mutual-interdependency” -of things! Mythological -images rising vaguely from the -clouds of school memories; the -lilt of that Walrus and Carpenter verse -parodied a thousand times; an American -jingle never recalled since it was first -casually read and dismissed on a railway journey; and -the magniloquent <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">panache</span></i> lines of Rostand—all dropping -in irrelevantly from some distant and forgotten corner of -the past into this garden, all à propos of spud work and -linking itself with it!</p> - -<p class='c008'>For instance, to-day ‹one of the three longest in the year, -for, in the coming morn, about five o’clock, our summer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>solstice will have taken place›, as I spudded away at the -fern, thirstily and perspiringly, my haunting iteration was -alternately of images wide as the poles asunder. One -was of those puzzling lines, in Boileau’s heroicomic -poem <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Lutrin</span></i>, anent the barber who</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in20'>... <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">d’une main legère</span></i></div> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tient un verre de vin qui rit dans la fougère.</span></i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>FERN SEED</div> - -<p class='c008'>The other was of Gadshill boast: “We steal as in a castle, -cock-sure: we have the receipt of fern-seed”—which -irresistibly, by concatenation, brought in the image of -my dear if disreputable old friend Falstaff and how he -would have “larded the lean earth” as he spudded along. -Now it occurs to me that if the receipt of fern-seed as -handed down by tradition is in any way correct, this is the -last day when this fern massacre can be of any use, as -far as Villino Loki is concerned, to prevent its propagation -for this year. Is not to-morrow <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> John’s Eve; -and is not that the date upon which the invisible seed—which -once successfully gathered will confer upon the -gatherer the power of invisibility—drops upon the soil?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The harvest, it seems, must be made “in the dark of the -moon,” at the exact turning of midnight, and received in a -pewter plate; without regard to the beguiling pranks of -fairy or goblin, who, naturally enough, are jealous of the -acquisition by mere mortals of this essential attribute of -their order. The receipt does not state how the pewter-harvested -seed, being invisible, is to be bottled up or otherwise -preserved for use when required.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This, by the way, is a fairly typical instance of the manner -in which our mediæval superstitions were shrouded in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>cryptic conditions, the failure of any one of which in the -smallest particular would plausibly explain away the -failure of the whole charm.—We can easily understand -the paucity of invisible mortals at all times.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, I for one have no desire for such a charm. The -temptation to use it would be distracting. And conceive -the endless trouble, picture to yourself the misconceptions, -you would raise into your own mind if you possessed the -power at any moment of prying, invisible, into the innermost -life of your best friends, or your enemies ... and of hearing -what they might happen to say about you!</p> - -<p class='c008'>No. Yet I would some power gave me the gift to gather -all the invisible seed at Villino Loki: I would burn it -once and for all.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'><i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">CROSSES DE FOUGERE, A LA JAPONAISE</span></i></div> - -<p class='c008'>One cannot help wondering that so little use should be -made of all this vegetable wealth. There it is, covering -square leagues of common land, to be harvested by whosoever -list. In former days, indeed, it was gathered in and -burnt for “potashes”—chiefly for glass-making. And -therein lies the explanation of the wine “laughing in the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fougère</span></i>”; ash of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fougère</span></i>, or Bracken, had in the “grand -Roy’s” days become synonymous with glass itself. Again, -in its dry condition, Brake was once extensively used for -thatching and for litter; in some parts of the country the -young plant was given as fodder to cattle and horses. -Now, however, county councils forbid the building of -thatch, our up-to-date cattle and horses are too fastidious -as to litter and fodder, and we import our potashes. -Meanwhile, Bracken threatens everywhere to stifle the -Heather on our moors.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If I remember right, in some parts of France the poorer -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>people make use of young Brake as food. And this -reminds me that, some years ago, I heard the last Japanese -Ambassador remark at dinner—à propos of the Asparagus -that was just going round—that he wondered we should -not make use in the kitchen of the Bracken he had noticed -growing in such enormous and neglected quantities in -England. In his country, he assured us, they eat the -young shoots, when still in their folded “crozier” stage, -precisely as we over here eat Asparagus, and consider -them not only as delicacies, but as particularly wholesome -and nutritious.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The recipe for cooking them is simple. The croziers, cut -just short of the roots, are to be parboiled in strongly salted -water; the first water, which extracts some unpleasantly -bitter principle, is to be quickly poured off; then the -shoots, thoroughly drained of this first water, are boiled -in a large quantity of fresh water, drained again carefully -and served with oil or butter, very much like our Sprue.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I must some day make the experiment. I wonder if the -joy, now, of eating tender young Bracken would be like -that of the savage devouring his declared enemy?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Meanwhile, for the sake of the desired grass, the hecatomb -must be repeated daily.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXV</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image208.jpg' alt='dog looking outside at rain' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>MORE BLACK SHEEP</div> - -<p class='c008'>This July, not remarkable for -anything but rain and dark skies, -has produced a perfect outbreak -of wickedness in the village. Our -black sheep have turned into -tigers without even the excuse -of torrid weather to inflame -their passions. But, indeed, the -public house is always ready -to supply the stimulant necessary -for driving average humanity -into brutal and insane -crime.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Caliban, whom the reader -may remember as having once -worked in our Fortunate -Island, and always looking -as if he had just risen from all-fours, -has, in our recent absence, thrown -away all pretence at humanity once -and for all. Though, indeed, why -should the poor beasts, who generally make excellent -fathers and husbands, be compared to the -type of man that deliberately ruins his home? To batter -your wife, terrorize your children, to squander your -substance for an indulgence which ultimately destroys -your health, is a mystery of perversity reserved for the -superior being.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Anyway, Caliban, having drifted from place to place, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>lost his last chance of employment in this district by killing -a whole hot-house full of Tomatoes through drunken neglect -“on” the local market gardener, as we should say in -Ireland, finally locked his wife and children out of the little -cottage, and shut himself in with his drunkenness in company -with his aged but not less drunken parent. The -power of thought having returned in the morning, the -precious pair put their boosy heads together and sold the -furniture, possessed themselves of every available valuable, -even of Mrs. Caliban’s solitary trinket, and decamped -together from the district!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Caliban, with an infant in arms and two little girls -at her skirts, has now set to work to earn enough for -all. She is a valiant woman; and no doubt when she has -succeeded fairly well, Caliban will return to repeat the -process. She is very anxious for a separation, but cannot -accomplish this, as the whereabouts of her lord and master -are unknown.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>She is less fortunate than the wife of Black Sheep <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 2. -Last Saturday we were peacefully entertaining a couple -of week-end visitors, when poor Mrs. Mutton crawled into -our garden to “see the young lady.” The water-butt -myth was cast to the winds. She had a black eye and a -dislocated thumb, and informed us that Mutton had -threatened to “do for her,” and that she was going in fear -of her life. “When not drunk,” she remarked with the -apathy of despair, “I think he’s mad!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mutton is well known in the district for his playful ways, -and no one would consent to house his wife but an enterprising -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>barber: on the condition, however, that Mutton -did not come after her. The poor thing shivered and -shook, and avowed that she could not return and pass -another hour in such terrors. When she heard his step, -she told us, a trembling would seize her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You ladies,” she said, rolling her hopeless eyes from one -sympathetic listener to another, “can have no idea of the -kind of life poor women like us lead!”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>COUNTY POLICE METHODS</div> - -<p class='c008'>Little Jimmy Mutton and she had spent the previous night -out under fear of a gun, which Black Sheep <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">père</span></i> had taken -to bed with him, with threats of instant use. The first idea -of the owners of Villino Loki was that the woman should -have protection; and here the drama took a Gilbertian -form with a dash of nightmare. Her cottage being on the -borders of another county, no policeman nearer than nine -miles off had the right to intervene. In vain did “the -young lady,” attended by the two week-end visitors, start -off for the nearest magistrate and lay the case before him. -Mrs. Mutton must betake herself to that far county town, -by what means she best might; and if she and her poor -lambs were “done for” between this and then, it would -all be within the strict limits of the law as far as the -magistrate was concerned. With fruitless eloquence were -the perils of the situation painted in their blackest -colours. Mutton, as we have said, was famous, and -like Habacuc in Voltaire’s estimation, might be <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">capable -de tout</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Could not the local policeman take possession of the -gun?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Impossible. No policeman nearer than Paddockstown -could lay a finger on it.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>Could not at least the village Bobby keep an eye on the -house where the enterprising barber had taken in the -refugees?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Magistrate smiled at such ignorance of the law. All -orders must come from Paddockstown.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“That,” remarked one of the week-end visitors as the discomfited -party shook the Magistrate’s dust off their feet, -“that seems a futile old gentleman!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>This week-end visitor had an emphatic manner of speech, -which afforded the only relief in the exasperation of the -atmosphere.</p> - -<p class='c008'>However, the affair managed to straighten itself out on, -again, true Gilbertian lines. Mrs. Mutton duly found a -motor-bus to convey her to Paddockstown; and there, with -all the proper formality, interviewed the Magistrate and a -lawyer, with the help of whom she was separated from -her obstreperous Mutton. Little Jimmy gave evidence, -Mutton was advised by his lawyer not to defend the case. -She has now appropriately joined forces with Mrs. Caliban -and is enjoying a time of peace which we trust may not -be merely an interlude.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, Miss!” she cried, describing these unwonted -sensations, “I’m that overjoiced, I’m afraid it’s hardly -right!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>As the husband is hovering about the roads, waylaying -all concerned with alarming politeness, we are a little -anxious. We know that he is still <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mouton enragé</span></i> at -heart; and we do not know if in spite of the mandate -from Paddockstown the local police would be allowed -to interfere were gun or table knife to be put into -requisition.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>The Dorothy Perkins are coming out, showing a most -glorious kind of fire rose, which hitherto they only displayed -in the autumn after a touch of frost. Combined -with the delicate sprays of the -Ceanothus Gloire de Versailles, -they make in a tall glass vase -as pretty a harmony as we -know.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image212.jpg' alt='rose garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE NEW ROSARY</div> - -<p class='c008'>The new Rose Garden promises -complete success. Caroline -Testout is coming out, fat -and pink and smiling in her -usual good-humoured profusion. -We have a great bed -in the shape of a Maltese cross -in the middle of a stretch of -turf in this new Rose Garden, -and the other three beds are -filled respectively with Madame -Abel Châtenay; mixed yellow -roses, among which are Betty, -Lady Hillingdon, and Juliet, -are specially successful; and -another deep pink charmer -named Madame Jules Groles. She has not yet come out. -The centre bed is devoted to General MacArthur, with a -Crimson Rambler pillar.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Climbing Roses against the arches that bound this -rose-lawn north and south are growing bravely; and we -have lost our hearts to May Queen with its mass of -bright pink flowers, which, combined with the fainter, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>creamier pinks of Paul Transon, make such a delicious -bouquet of bloom, all on the same pillar.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The hedge of Penzance Briars, though only a couple of -feet above the ground as yet, has thrown out long lines -of starry blossoms, shading from faint primrose to deepest -crimson, with intermediate constellations of pinks and -carmines that out-do both Dorothy Perkins and -Zephyrine Drouhin.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The new Rose Garden is shut off on the west by a -fir-tree avenue, and we are trying to coax white and red -Wichurianas up the stems, in spite of all expert pessimism. -Marquise de Sinety is a delicate, warmly tinted, pinky -cream Rose. Catalogues, no doubt, would call her -“salmon”; but it is such a horrid word that we prefer -to present the picture under another aspect.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Do not let anyone subject to the watery caprices of an -English climate place their trust in Maman Cochet! Her -heavy bud becomes hopelessly sodden after anything like -a shower. One can conceive that this dowager would be -a handsome enough object in a southern garden, or that -she would be a good greenhouse rose; but, like many -another, she does not bear adversity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Handsome, bland Caroline Testout keeps up her self-contained -smile unimpaired in fair and foul weather; -“fat-faced Puss” that she is, a very Gioconda among -roses, even to the close folding of her plump leaves, which -remind one of that overrated charmer’s compact hands. -It would take a good deal to shake her equanimity; -scentless, soulless beauty!</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>The Lyons Rose has burst on us this year in all its -splendour, a most successful combination of pink and -gold. The sunset glow seems to shine through the -petals.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These efforts at producing new effects are not always -successful, some having a very patchy appearance, to our -mind. As for the Austrian Briar, Soleil d’Or, it is -more like a blood-orange cut in two than anything else, in -colour, shape, and pulpy texture. From a distance the -bright circles look attractive, but we should recommend -it to no one who values delicacy in their blooms.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A great success are the Weeping Standards Stella. -Though it is their first year, the branches are covered -with lovely tinted blossoms; and what is more, these are -lasting. Single carmine stars are they, with golden centres -and a scent of musk.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>FLOWERING TIMES AND PLANS</div> - -<p class='c008'>The mistress of the Villino, a foolish and impetuous -person, has three times made the same mistake and -omitted to ascertain the blooming season of plants which -she wished to be in beauty together. So the four Weeping -Standards Stella, are considerably in advance of the -four Dorothys which alternate with them; and the -standards Soleil d’Or were quite over before the -Conrad Meyers appeared in the Lily Walk; and -the contrast of pink and yellow was what had been -aimed at!</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the same manner she had intended the Garland Roses -to foam up in two splendid white pillars at each end of -the long length of Dorothy Perkins at the opposite side of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>the Blue Border terrace. Of course the Garland is becoming -unsightly before the fire-pink of the Dorothy begins -to show in any profusion.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The garden—except on the upper terrace, which with Heliotrope, -Lobelia, and the climbing Ceanothus keeps to the -faint cool blues, untroubled by the efflorescence of the -White Pet ‹which, by the way, has completely eaten -out Perle des Rouges› and the very faint pink of the -Ivy-Leaf Geraniums—except for the upper terrace, the -garden, we say, is growing pink. What with the Verbenas -and the Red Roses and the cheery coloured Ivy-Leaf -Geranium called Jersey Beauty, in the Dutch garden, -and the general ramp of Dorothy everywhere, it is a -mass of pink.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another year we must have more Penstemons. They -are charming things, and as good as they are beautiful. -In a garden nothing is beautiful that is not good, which is -another facet of its likeness to Paradise.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We caress the idea of a border where perennial Gypsophila, -large bushes of Monarda, Penstemons and Lavender should -group and contrast and delight and rest the eye.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>There is a walk in a wonderful garden not far from here—a -garden which brings a kind of fainting, despairing envy -to the soul of Loki’s Grandmother—where Lavender and -Penstemons make the happiest possible effect. The walk -itself is a thing of beauty; through woodland on one side, -the border in question runs quite a long way against a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>low parapet on the other. Below this parapet the ground -slopes down, and at the end of the walk there is so abrupt -a fall that it seems almost to end in mid-air with a vast -panorama far beneath. And on the side of the flowery -border a shelving precipice falls away out of which giant -stone pines hang against the distant horizon. The Lavender -has grown to a hedge, and the varying soft pinks of -the Penstemons run vividly against its mistiness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Would that walk, and that border, and that view, were -ours!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXVI</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>We nearly had a garden tragedy yesterday afternoon. -The sounds of a little dog in great distress broke the peace -of the drowsy day. Loki’s Ma-Ma dashed out of the -house thinking it was Loki—caught in a trap! Certainly -the little dog—whichever it was—was in desperate straits.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“That’s the voice of my Betty,” cried Juvenal, galloping -to the rescue in his shirt-sleeves. “My treasure, my little -girl! I’m coming!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was well indeed that he did hurry, for Betty had fallen -into the deep water-butt in the Rose Garden; and if she had -not had the sense to scream for help, and to hold on to the -rim of the barrel with all her little claws, she would have -been a drowned Betty, and nobody the wiser, perhaps, for -days and days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We think it would have broken Juvenal’s heart.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Both Arabella and Loki were standing staring stiffly instead -of doing what was expected of dogs of such intellect: -which was running to fetch human help.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>PERSIANS AND A WICKED WORLD</div> - -<p class='c008'>On a former occasion however, when Kitty-Wee had a fit, -poor little darling, Loki acted up to our opinion of him. We -had gone for a walk on the moor, and the Persian Princess, -still half in her kittenhood, had accompanied us, with that -touching display of pleasure at being in our company which -makes the Fur Children so endearing. She had to roll on -the grass in front of us, sharpen her claws on every tree, -and rub her pretty head against our skirts in the endeavour -to show her feelings. We suppose these feelings were too -much for her. We had halted in the greenhouse when -Loki dashed in upon us, whimpering in a frightful state of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>agitation. He drew his Grandmother out of the greenhouse, -and rushed up to stand over his little fur sister, -crying out loud in sympathy and distress.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She was a small convulsed heap upon the ground. Fortunately -the tap, which ran into one of those delectable -barrels of odoriferous water so precious to the garden, was -quite close, and we were able to administer first aid with -promptitude.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For all who do not know it: cold water to the head gives -immediate relief to any little creature in such a seizure.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>She quite grew out of them. But, alas! our thistledown -Princess, our dear pretty silver lady! We have delayed -to write her sad fate into the pages of the chronicle of the -happy Fur Family. She was stolen! We often lie awake -thinking of her. Pampered as she was; so accustomed -to be thought of, and cherished, and made much of; to -have her pearly robe brushed and combed to the last point -of perfection, her dainty appetite catered for; to find a -caress and a cuddle whenever she was in the mood for it! -A lurid mystery ‹accompanied by a great deal of hard -swearing› envelops her loss. She was lost on a half-hour’s -motor-trip which her family, struck with momentary idiocy, -was allowing her to undertake alone. She was, in fact, -about to contract another matrimonial alliance with a -prince of her own race, and was so securely packed in her -luxurious travelling basket, so unmistakably labelled, so -solemnly handed over to the care of the conductor of the -motor ’bus, that it did not seem as if she could come to -harm.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>But Blue Persians, as well as pink pearls, are over-precious -chattels to confide to a dishonest world! The conductor -of the next ’bus to that by which she was expected, handed -an empty basket to the envoy from the other side; and -when this was refused, declared the cat had escaped on -the way. As the basket was hermetically closed, this lie -had not even the merit of being plausible. But puzzle -succeeded puzzle when the waiter from the Golf Club -House, a reliable witness, deposed having picked up the -same basket still securely fastened at every corner—but -minus the cat—on the first round of the ’bus. “It could -have gone to Siberia in that basket,” he declared, “it was -that strong and solid!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The local police, a most intelligent and valuable body of -men, declared that nothing could be done, “as no man -could be taken up for telling a lie.” And the railway -company, after punching a large hole in the basket, -announced that as the cat was not insured, we might sue -them for five shillings! We advertised and beat the -countryside in vain—Kitty-Wee has gone out of our lives. -If we only knew that she was happy, the ache at our -hearts would be less.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We must fill the gap, and are deliberating whether a pair -of Blue Persians, or an orange couple, would afford us -the greater joy. We think to decide on the latter would -be less callous to the memory of Kitty-Wee, and provide -perhaps a better match in the little Villino that runs so -much to orange and yellow.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Never could there be anything more beautiful than the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span><abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> John’s Wort along the moorland roads. It has been a -day of golden heat, the distant woods have shimmering -purple vapours in their hollows, and the hills are misty -blue. There had been a fire last year in a great flat -stretch of pinewood that runs into heather and moor, high -above where the road begins to fall into the first of the -little country towns between us and London. The wood -had been cleared of the dead trees and we suppose it is -this which has given encouragement to the great yellow -weed. However it may be, it is a field of cloth of gold -now. Pines rise up at intervals in their dark solemnity. -Royal purple of the heather runs into the gold. It is a -meeting of colour that ought to be immortalized.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXVII</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figleft id005'> -<img src='images/image221.jpg' alt='path down garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Time has run -away with us, and -the garden chronicle -has been silent. The -Ramblers have -blazed in the garden, -more especially the -indefatigable “Dorothy,” -till one has -grown almost tired -of such a repetition -of vivid pink.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Mistress of the -Villino has been -planning “toning-down -effects” for -next year and means -to run a border of -Catmint or Dwarf -Lavender against the -“Dorothy” hedge.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Lily Walk, which we shall have to call by -another name, since, with a few exceptions, the Lilies -decline to have anything to say to it, is, should the -scheme contemplated be successful, to show a cool -vista of greys, lavender blues, and “rose mourante” -behind the arch where the same irrepressible Perkins -flaunts herself in such splendour. The Delphiniums, -which have done so well there, will have spent their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>hour of glorious life before the arch enters upon its -triumph.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What a mausoleum that Lily Walk has proved itself! It -has been one of our tragedies! Adam is quite dispassionate, -and says “it’s the Lily disease; and there’s a deal of it -about.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>By one of those freakish accidents that will occur in the -best regulated gardens, a batch of Fairy Lilies was planted -<em>behind</em> the ramping Alstrumerias. This was discovered too -late, when these bold Peruvians were succumbing.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image222_223.jpg' alt='landscape by path - two pages wide' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>TONING DOWN EFFECTS</div> - -<p class='c008'>But besides the amount of sickly, straggling “Candidums,” -“Auratums,” and “Tigers” that have disgraced the -border, there is the unaccountable number of bulbs that -have been swallowed up in it! The whole thing must -be dug out this autumn. And the scheme is now to -grow Ceanothus “Gloire de Versailles” up the wooden -trellis at the back between the Roses the foliage of which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>is always blighted, and to have a pillar of Blush Rambler -at the end, by the side of the Wellingtonia which closes -the border. Bushes of Ceanothus Azureas, as well as the -successful “Gloire de Versailles”; a drift of Achillea, -shading from the palest pink to deep carmine; bushes of -Catmint; the new pale pink Spirea, perennial Gypsophila; -mauve Galiga ‹Salvia, Miss Jekyll recommends›; Sea -Lavender and a couple of clumps of Eringium will complete -the effect. Perhaps there shall be Moon Daisies, -pale pink and mauve Penstemons, and one or two groups -of “Cottage Maid” Antirrhinums to fill up the gaps. -But what we feel is needed is the grey, mauve, silver, and -lavender-blue tinting against which Dorothy Perkins may -be as flaming as she likes.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>It is rare to find Rose Achilleas anywhere. Yet they are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>as pretty a thing as we have ever seen in a border; the -blossoms seeming to drift on their slender stems, one above -the other like little sunset clouds.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What has been for once a complete pleasure is the wide -bed under the drawing-room window. The Ceanothus—which -loves us—has been a treasure of delicate bloom; -and, against it, the great old bushes of lavender have thrust -their spikes in profusion. Just the right tone to harmonize. -Then the Longiflorum Lilies—excellent, sturdy, conscientious -darlings!—have lifted their satin shining trumpets -above the Heliotrope that loves us too; and Lobelia, the -one vivid line of colour, has rimmed the thick cushion of -“Mrs. Sinkins’” foliage most artistically. The grey-green -gives the finishing touch to a really reposeful combination. -There are also two or three clumps of Nicotiana Affinis, -softly mauve, and faded purple crimson. To gaze at that -corner against the amethyst of the moor is a never-ending -delight.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A CHAPTER OF DISASTERS</div> - -<p class='c008'>But another garden disaster has been the annihilation of all -the seedlings which we sowed in the open border! It is -laughable now, but sad too, to turn back the pages and -read the vainglorious project of running a dazzling ribbon -of Nemophila against the Dorothy Perkins hedge. ‹It might -have been frightful; so perhaps Providence kindly intervened!› -But that Nigella “Miss Jekyll” should have -refused her mysterious and pretty presence in the Blue -Border is a deep disappointment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We are again gnashing our teeth over the Blue Border. -The fact is, we suppose, it is too much to expect beauty -all the year round, no matter how boastfully garden writers -inform you of their artifices in that direction: how cleverly, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>for instance, the annual Gypsophila will bury the unsightly -decay of the Iris leaves, or how you can pull branches of -“Miss Mellish” down over the Delphiniums.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Why do not our Delphiniums bloom twice? Every garden -book and every catalogue cheers your heart by promising -a handsome second bloom to the industrious clipper-off of -seed-pods. But never a Delphinium has responded to our -kind attentions in that direction. Perhaps our soil does -not give them strength enough for such exertion. But it is -idle speculating. One must learn what one’s garden will -do and what it won’t do—and make the best of it.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The greatest of all the tragedies that have befallen us -lately is indubitably the passing away of poor old Tom. -We are now catless!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Poor little friend! Where has that quaint, faithful, dutiful -identity gone to? Juvenal says Heaven would not be -Heaven to him if he were not to meet his own dogs there—a -sentiment which we have, we believe, ourselves set -down elsewhere. <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Francis the Poverello saw God in -all His lesser creatures. It is not possible to think that -we shall lose anything in a completer world.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Tom was the most conscientious of cats. He now lies -beside Susan. We are going to get two little tombstones -made for us by the Watts Settlement at Compton. Susan’s -epitaph has already been mentioned. Nothing more to -the point could be imagined:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Here lies Susan, a good dog.” “Here lies Thomas, for -eighteen years our faithful cat-comrade.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>So shall it stand recorded over the new grave.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXVIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Mid-August and the lists beginning to come in! Mr. -Eden Phillpotts, in his delightful garden book, says that no -one is a true garden lover who is not instantly lost in -every nurseryman’s list, who does not immediately draw -out orders far beyond his means, and spend his time in -plans and combinations that shall transcend Kew as well -as Babylon. What garden lovers are we in this respect! -It is only when the orders are written out and the prices -totted up that sober reason obtrudes its forbidding -countenance—and then the painful process of “knocking -off” begins. Nevertheless we are becoming adepts in -combining lavishness with economy. There are delightful -firms whose plants are literally to be had at a quarter -of the price of others, with results quite as happy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is the Dutchman who sends us our bulbs. He has -grown to be a friend, and his English letters are charming, -“Dear Mrs.,” he wrote when Gladioli, “The Bride,” -arrived in a state no Bride should be in, really without a -wedding garment—“Dear Mrs., She is a flower the most -agreeable in the garden, but she is very unpleasant to -travel.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>His catalogue makes equally fascinating reading. The -quaint spelling and phraseology are more than attractive. -Who, for instance, would not wish to invest in Narcissus, -thus described:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Astrardente, white and apricot orange, edged fiery scarlet -magnificent and nice flowers.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Nothing,” says another grower, “can equal, much less -excel, early single Tulips.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>“Pottebakke White,” cries a third, “is a very large pure -white flower, and not to surpass better.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Of snow-like variety and delicious fragrance a most -beloved flower,” thus our special Hollander labels Lilium -Longiflorum Takesima, in words that have a certain -charm of poetic simplicity which would not have misbecome -the artistic Japanese himself.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>DUTCH BULBS</div> - -<p class='c008'>However tempted by other nationalities, we choose to be -Dutch in our bulbs. This is the list we have just -dispatched to Haarlem:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“600 China blue single Hyacinths.</div> - <div class='line'>1 dozen Cavaignac pink Hyacinths.</div> - <div class='line'>1 dozen Fabiola blush Hyacinths.</div> - <div class='line'>50 Roman Hyacinths.</div> - <div class='line'>100 Scarlet Duc van Thol Tulips.</div> - <div class='line'>50 Rose Duc van Thol Tulips.</div> - <div class='line'>300 Thomas Moore Tulips.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 Darwin Tulips, best mixed.</div> - <div class='line'>500 Parrot Tulips, in the finest mixture, bright colours.</div> - <div class='line'>100 Gladiolus Brenchlyensis.</div> - <div class='line'>100 Gladiolus Hollandia.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 mixed striped Crocus.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 Scilla Siberica praecox.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 blue Grape Hyacinths.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 Snowdrops Elweseii.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 Poeticus recurvus Narcissus.</div> - <div class='line'>100 Hyacinthus Candicans.</div> - <div class='line'>1000 Single Trumpet Daffodils mixed.</div> - <div class='line'>500 Double Daffodils mixed.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Of these some of the scarlet and rose “Duc van Thol” -Tulips, and all the “Cavaignac” and “Fabiola” Hyacinths -are for forcing; and, of course, the Roman Hyacinths -also. The other bulbs are destined for the open ground.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>Gladiolus Hollandia is described as the “Pink Brenchlyensis,” -and is much recommended. We have never -grown her yet, but her scarlet cousin is a great success -in our garden. We find our Gladioli do so much better -when planted in the spring, that we are asking the firm not -to send them to us for another seven months. But they -are included in the autumn list so that he may reserve us -good sound tubers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is evidently against garden decorum to mention the name -of a horticulturist, for some garden writers make a point -of assuring the reader that they will never be guilty of such -an indiscretion; but we see no harm at all in paying, by -the way of this discursive pen, a tribute to the perfect -satisfaction hitherto afforded us by our chosen bulb grower, -Mr. Thoolen, of Haarlem. His Tulips, Hyacinths, and -Narcissi have stood the test for three years. Of course, -in our soil we cannot expect more than one good season -out of anything except Crocus, Scilla, and Narcissi.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Daffodils, which up till now have been unaccountably -absent from our garden plans, are to be heavily indulged -in this year. Besides what appears in the above list we -are venturing on another thousand from a certain Mr. -Telkamp, likewise in the land of windmills.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>MORE DUTCH BULBS</div> - -<p class='c008'>The following is the order which we have just dispatched -to him:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“1000 Daffodils for naturalization.</div> - <div class='line in1'>100 Retroflexa Tulips, soft yellow.</div> - <div class='line in1'>100 Bouton d’Or Tulips, deep golden yellow.</div> - <div class='line in1'>100 Caledonia Tulips, orange, dark stems.</div> - <div class='line in1'>100 Golden Eagle Tulips, fine yellow.</div> - <div class='line in1'>200 Count of Leicester, yellow orange tinted.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>He advertises a thousand Daffodils for ten shillings—two -and a half dollars! Miraculous, if true! It is worth the -plunge.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We have decided to take a slice off the kitchen garden to -be kept entirely for bulbs and tubers for cutting. There a -hundred “Madonna” Lilies, three dozen Auratum, a -hundred Tigrinum, and a few hundreds of other kinds -shall be given all the chances that completely fresh soil -and good exposure can afford. Five hundred Parrot -Tulips, three hundred “Thomas Moore,” and a hundred -“Bizarres” are to make a field of glory for the harvest. -The hundred Gladiolus Brenchlyensis and the hundred -Hollandia will rear their scarlet and pink spears; and Iris -shall stand in ranks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Mistress of the Villino has still an hour of bliss -before her in picking out Iris for her list. The “Florentina” -shall certainly be largely of the company, and preference -is to be given generally to the misty blue and purple kinds. -Then the speculation in cheap bulbs provides a thousand -mixed May flowering Tulips.... Adam’s face will be a -study when he finds how much of his cherished potato -and cabbage land will be required. But what a span of -beauty it will make; and what sheaves of delight for ourselves -and our friends!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>FOND DREAMS, AND MISDOUBTS</div> - -<p class='c008'>Every year the extravagant woman above mentioned, -who has got the vice of garden-gambling into her very -system, extends her ambitions. But how much is there not -still to be accomplished before she is satisfied, if ever a -garden-lover is satisfied!</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>For a long time she has dreamt of a shady pool—somewhere. -And, after beholding the adorable vision before -described in Messrs. Wallace’s exhibit at Holland House -this summer, she had been quite sure that it would be -difficult to exist another year without a nook with Irises -about it and a sunk basin, and a little statue mysteriously -contrived in the green. Coming across an advertisement -in <cite>Country Life</cite>, where an artistic firm of garden-decorators -offers just what she wants, a small round stone pond with -a Faun sitting cross-legged on the brim of it, it becomes -quite clear to her that there are cravings which must be -satisfied. She is willing to give up the vision of a new -Azalea dell ‹for this year only, of course› and of a paved -walk with Cypresses on each side, ending in a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rondpoint</span></i> -hedged about with more Cypresses, with a stone bench in -the middle, for the more immediately alluring claim. But, -O, ye gods and little fishes, how insatiable are still the -needs of the Villino on the hill!</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is the orchard for the slope above the sunk tennis -court; to be a glory some Spring with Apple and Pear -blossom, while Daffodils, Narcissi and Scilla riot underneath. -And there is the round Autumn Garden to be -dug out and levelled in the wood, where Sunflowers, -Michaelmas Daisies, “Fire King” Antirrhinums, Nasturtiums -and flaunting orange and saffron Dahlias are to -make a rim of splendour against a cropped green hedge. -The centre of this blazing circle is to be flagged and -consecrated to “Herbs.” That will be something to -live for; to see accomplished some golden autumn of -the future!</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>So much has already been done in what was, most of it, -a mere sodden tangle, impenetrable not only to human -beings but even to the light of heaven, that it gives one -heart for what may be achieved in the future. Yet never -does the Grandmother of Loki feel the uncertainty of life -more keenly than when she is in the midst of her garden -dreams. Every winter indeed, when the bulbs are planted, -she wonders, with a pang, if she will see them come up in -the Spring; how much more does she now ask herself -whether the hidden Autumn Garden, or the Italian walk, -or the Bowery Orchard, or even the Sunk Fountain, are -ever destined to rejoice her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, after all, she gets an extraordinary amount of -pleasure out of the mere mental picture, and who can say -if the very uncertainty of all things here below does not -add to their zest?</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='tm' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span> -<a href='images/image234_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image234.jpg' alt='THE MOOR' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE MOOR</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XXIX</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>DAWN OVER THE MOOR</div> -<p class='c008'>This morning, waking at dawn, the Padrona was impelled -to roll out of bed, and look out of both her windows. -The one over her balcony gives down the valley and the -one opposite her bed affords her vision -of the moor rolling away beyond the -Dutch Garden -and the terrace -corner. -If she had -been but a woman of moderate -vigour, she would not have gone to -bed again till the whole pageant of mysterious glory had -fulfilled itself before her eyes. For what a sight it was! -First of all, the whole garden, woodland and heather -hills were steeped in a translucence for which there is no -name. It is a virgin hour, and its purity no words can -describe. The Ling, in full bloom, was silver and amethyst -on the rise, misty purple and blue in the hollows. Behind -the shouldering hills a rift of sky was a radiant lemon-yellow, -a kind of honey sea of light. And above that, -again, little drifts of cloud had caught a wonderful orange-rose -glow like the wings of cherubim about the Throne. -Down the valley there were silver mists against the most -tender, clear horizon; and all along the Lily Walk the -clumps of Tiger Lilies seemed to be like little Fra Angelico -angels, holding their breath in adoration!</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image232_236.jpg' alt='landscape - two pages wide' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Everything lies, after all, in the point of view. The dawn -was decidedly too pink for safety, and the clumps of Lilies -that looked so pious and recollected have got “the disease” -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>badly in their stalks. Yet realism can never blight that -exquisite hour of breaking day in her thoughts!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The only time we degenerates ever really see the dawn is -coming home from some London ball; or again, travelling. -The dawn in London often gives an impression of extraordinary -blue in atmosphere and heaven, we suppose -because it is seen contrasted with artificial illuminations. -But that sapphire blue, when it permeates park and streets, -when the sky seems to hold unplumbed depths beyond -depths of the same wonderful colour, is a thing to dwell in -the memory likewise, though travellers have the better part. -Dawn in the Alps! A night not to be depicted! Such -vastness of tinted heights; such black chasms where the -pines hang; spume of waterfalls all golden crimson, and -deep rivers, green and terrible and beautiful with a glint -on them as they rush!</p> - -<p class='c008'>One of us ‹the fourth in the lucky clover leaf at Villino -Loki; one who is poet and musician besides many other -things, and sometimes poet and musician together› has -defined the indefinable. It is not the dawn of the day she -hymns, but the dawn of the young Spring.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>Though the poem is printed in a recently published volume, -it seems to fit naturally into this page.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><i>THE <abbr title='Saint'>ST.</abbr> GOTHARD</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c022'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'><i>April and I—</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Each with each greeting amid tumbled ice,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Travel these wastes of frozen purity.</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Here the wild air above the precipice</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>E’en tasteth sweet, and hath a delicate scent</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>As of faint flowers unseen—the flower of snows</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Massed peak on peak in slumber yet unspent,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>But dreaming of the Rose.</i></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>Here the great hills wear silence as a seal—</i></div> - <div class='line in4'><i>April and I,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Listening can hear the loosened snowflake steal</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Down from the burdened bough that slips awry;</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Here the long cry of water-nymphs at play</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Freezes upon the iced lips of fountains,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>And their sweet limbs’ arrested holiday</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>In crystal carved engarlandeth the mountains.</i></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>Through such vast fields of sleep how dare we roam,</i></div> - <div class='line in4'><i>April and I,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>And from its eyrie bid the torrent foam,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>And virgin meads grow starrier than the sky</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>With scattered cowslip and with drifted bell?</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Or where austerely looms an Alpine giant</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Set a young almond rosily defiant</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>To be our sentinel?</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c022'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span><i>Whence are we victors, chanting as we go,</i></div> - <div class='line in4'><i>April and I.</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>“Be free, ye tumbling streams, awake O snow—</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Ye silver blooms increase and multiply?”</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>What is our spell?—The singing heart we bring,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>And lo! that song that is the core of earth</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Leaps in reply, and children of the Spring</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Into the light come forth.</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE DAWN OF YOUNG SPRING</div> - -<p class='c008'>Then there was a dawn over the Campagna, seen from -the train that was speeding us towards Rome. A ball of -red fire hung over the horizon. The sea lay silver and -grey; and misty silver the Campagna.... “God made -himself an awful rose of dawn,” as Tennyson sings. He -did that morning: awful, yet full of a glorious comfort. -The sea just caught the great reflection on its bosom.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A little later, when we came to the first ruins that precede -the aqueducts, there were the white cattle, stepping about -among the broken pillars, with their huge spreading horns -all gilded. These had not changed since the days when -the sun gleamed on the grandeurs of classic Rome. Only -then yonder building—temple, or tomb, or villa—fronted -the morning with a forgotten stateliness, a lost grace.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Is anything comparable to the scene that meets the traveller -on his entry into Rome? Alas! <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> John Lateran no -longer stands like some titanic splendid ship about to slip -her moorings and sail away into the wild, lonely sea of the -Campagna. New walls have sprung up without the noble -ancient walls; sordid disjointed lengths of streets, mean -houses with blistered, leprous plaster; and evil-looking -little wine-shops. Nevertheless, nothing can spoil the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>moment when the Lateran Church first gathers shape -against the sky. All those statues with tossing gesture -against the faint blue of the new day, heroic figures with -outstretched arms seeming to gather pilgrims into the city; -and in the midst of them the Saviour uplifting the Cross of -Salvation! To the believer what a welcome! And it is -Rome herself at a glance, too; for if the Church stands -here beckoning between earth and sky, she is jostled below -and round about by the still speaking wonders of old Pagan -Rome.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXX</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>One of the advantages of being “little people in a little -place” is the pleasure small things can give one. The -Duke of Devonshire has seventy men in his garden. Is it -possible to imagine taking an interest in anything conducted -on so enormous a scale? It is not gardening, it is horticultural -government! There can be no individual knowledge -of any “beloved flower,” as our Dutch friend has it. -Outside a millionaire’s greenhouse we once beheld regiment -after regiment of Begonia pots. It made one’s brain reel. -How insupportable anything so repeated would become!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Even in small gardens there is too much of a tendency -nowadays to overdo garden effects. The flagged-path -effect can certainly be overdone. We were tempted to -visit a farmhouse the other day, adorably placed on a high -Sussex down just where a stretch of table-land dominates -an immense panorama of undulating country, and a vast -half-circle of horizon. With a few more trees no situation -could have been more beautiful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It was a party of the name of Mosensohn” who had -taken the old farmhouse, we are told, and they were transmogrifying -it according to the most modern principles of -how the plutocrat’s farmhouse should look.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In some ways it was very well done. The fine old lines -of wall and roof were carefully preserved; the high brick -wall with its arched doorway and door with the grille in -it, were quite in keeping, and gave one a sense of comfortable -seclusion as one stepped in off the high road.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But the square court, once the farmyard, divided by two -different levels, was completely flagged. Only a few beds -<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>against the wall, and a strip of turf on the lower level under -the house, afforded any relief to the eye. There was a -sunk garden beyond which was turfed, and the sense of -rest it instantly afforded made one realize what the incoming -family will suffer on a scorching August day from the -glare and refractions of the flags in a space so hemmed in. -In the right spirit of garden mania, we were not above -taking what hints we could. And some were very good. -All the beds on that first level were planted with cool-looking -blue and purple flowers—a happy thought where -there was so much hot stone. And the old cow stables -had been very cleverly converted into a most Italian-looking -brick pergola which ran the length of the sunk Rose -Garden, and ended in a round summer-house with a window. -From there, as well as from the Rose Garden, the -wide view over the Downs met the gaze. Vividly coloured -herbaceous borders ran along the side nearest to the sudden -slope of the hill. There is something very pleasing to -the senses when the glance passes from such an ordered -kaleidoscope of colour to the misty vastness of a far-reaching -view.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the middle of the Rose Garden was a sunk fountain in -a long narrow basin.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A batch of pinewood, dark and shady, would have saved -the situation; one sought everywhere for the comfort of -real shadows.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We went into the house, which was in the act of being -papered and painted for the millionaires. Delightful in -theory as such old buildings are, we were seized with doubt -from the moment of crossing the threshold whether any -sense of quaint antiquity would compensate one for beams -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>on top of one’s head, for bedrooms the size of a bath-towel, -and a general feeling of having one foot on the -hearth and another in the passage. We thought the newcomers -had shown more taste outside, and came to the -conclusion that some one else’s taste ruled in the garden, -but that they had allowed their own ideas free scope -indoors. These ideas were monotonous. The parlour -that gave on the little orchard had a paper all over green -parrots; the best bedroom upstairs had a paper all over -blue parrots; and the second best bedroom was adorned -with terra-cotta parrots. The only chance for a conglomeration -of rooms so hopelessly low and contracted, -would have been a plain distemper of no tint deeper than -cream, or at the outside butter colour. Then the old -beams would have had a chance, and one might have felt -able to draw one’s breath.</p> - -<p class='c008'>‹Fancy waking in the morning to the dance of all the little -parrots on top of one’s eyelids!›</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then, out of a small space, the shapes of trees and -flower-beds beyond come upon the vision with no sense of -effect if the space within is tormented. Neither can anyone -have any proper appreciation of the joy of a bunch -of flowers, or a vase of spreading boughs, who has not -set them against plain walls where their shadows have -play.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>CONVERTING A COTTAGE</div> - -<p class='c008'>Another little house near here—set down in the valley -this, on the edge of a hamlet, overlooking a wide pond—has -been to our thinking more successfully dealt with. Three -very old cottages have been knocked into one, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>whole little rambling up-and-down dwelling-place thus produced -has been boldly distempered white within from -roof to kitchen. The round black oak beams are delightful -in these little white rooms, and the pretty, blue-eyed, still -youthful spinster who owns them has been content with a -short pair of clear white muslin curtains in every window; -not, be it understood, the London bedroom kind that cuts -across the pane ‹an abomination difficult to avoid in -towns›, but proper curtains hanging over the recess. -Nothing more suitable could be devised, and it took a -“real lady,” in the sense of Hans Andersen’s “Real -Princess,” to be content with such fresh simplicity. But -attractive as her furnishing is, and full of genuinely beautiful -things, there our tastes slightly diverged.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>COTTAGE FURNITURE</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image244.jpg' alt='landscape' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The largest sitting-room has a set of black lacquer furniture -inlaid with vivid mother-of-pearl; it is deliciously -gay in this gay cottage parlour, and certainly no one who -possessed these early Victorian treasures could bear to -put them on one side. We think if we had been the lucky -owner, however, we would have eschewed coupling them -with velvet—or, indeed, brought velvet at all under those -weather beaten tiles. The mistress of the Villino had a -vision—a daring vision—of printed linen with scarlet cherries -and impossible birds pecking at them; something with a -true Jacobean angularity in it, to link the centuries together, -and an uncompromising vividness of tint. That for -cushions and sofa-covers. On the floor then, no bright -carpet would be admitted. We should have enamelled -that floor white, and cast a few rugs down on it, with no -more colours in them than faint lemons and greys or -creams.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>To complete this discursion on cottages, some of us -visited the other day a tiny house, where all the downstairs -rooms, except the kitchen, had -been thrown together, making a -charming, long, low living-room with -one great black beam across the -ceiling. On the walls was a perfect -cottage paper, with isolated pink -rose-buds well-distanced from each -other: a pink rosebud chintz and -black carpet dotted with faint stiff -roses, made quaint and unusual but -very satisfying arrangement. The -windows looked out on a pine wood -across a hedge of rampant pink -Dorothy Roses. Gazing out on -the dim, dark green grey aisles of -the fir trees one would want the -gay note within; and the little Rose-strewn -paper was perfection.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Yesterday the Grandfather of Loki -dragged the Grandmother in her -bath-chair out into the heart of the -moors. It’s a sporting bath-chair -this. It has been over as much rough ground as a horse -artillery gun-carriage, and nothing in the matter of obstacles -stops it unless it is barbed wire; it was chosen as light in -make as possible, and now it has a rakish, weather-beaten -appearance, like an old mountain mule.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>The rare strangers we meet on our wild career regard us -with varied sentiments. Some are obviously filled with -compassion over the joggling the occupant of the bath-chair -must be enduring. “What can that fool of a man -be about to expose that wretchedly delicate woman to -such suffering?” their expression says to us as they pass. -Others, on the other hand, are horror-stricken at the spectacle -of the wifely brutality that condemns this weakly, -good-natured man to the task of lugging her about. There -is a good deal of uphill work, of course, about us, and he -goes a good pace. “You ought to get a donkey, -Madam,” is their conclusion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>On two or three occasions good Samaritans have rushed -to assist him, with glances of scathing rebuke at this new -embodiment of woman’s tyranny.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But they are some of our best days, in spite of outside -disapproval. And, to go back to yesterday, we started -off with all the dogs in a state of “high cockalorum”—Arabella -in her most obsequious mood ‹having been -scolded the day before for running away›; Loki, the -Chinaman, trotting on in determined and splendid isolation -as usual, it being quite against Chinese etiquette to speak -to any fur-brother <em>outside</em> the garden gates; Betty, and her -father Laddie, secretly determined to go hunting, no matter -what execrations should be hurled after them. Laddie -comes from a neighbouring house, and insists on adopting -us as his family. It is very hard to be brutal and say that -we won’t be adopted when a pair of the most beautiful -cairngorm eyes in all the world are looking up at us out of -the dear long, wise, pathetic dog face. In fact, we are not -brutal; and Laddie comes and goes as he likes. Only he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>is occasionally carried back to his cook ‹who, it seems, -duly loves him› by Juvenal the tender-hearted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is very difficult to reach the moors, with this discursiveness! -But, in a sunshine as blazing as that which ever -fell from any Italian sky, we did get into the hollow of the -heather hills, and there spend an afternoon of perfect -dreaminess and pleasure.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>BATH CHAIR AND HEATHER</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Grandfather took off his coat and marched up the -slippery paths, the bath-chair bumping merrily after him. -It is one of his male prerogatives to scorn the idea of -sunstroke, and Loki’s Grandmother is filled with apprehensions -half the time. But when she saw him stretched -on a rug over the heather, smoking his pipe, and the four -dogs cast themselves down in attitudes expressive of their -different natures, the mental horizon became cloudless. -The material skies—if such an adjective can be used in -such connexion—the unplumbed dome of mystery above -us, were by no means cloudless, and that was part of their -wonderful beauty. Huge lazy white clouds, so luminous -as to be dazzling, sailed over the rim of the moor and cast -shadows of indescribable mauve and purple into the hollows. -A day of such intense light it was that every tree in the -thick of the woods flung its patch of shadow, purple-dark -against the vivid green. And, oh, the colour of the Ling, -mixed with Hill Heather, set with islands of Bracken—Bracken -in its proper place—silver under the sun rays, -against the blue! And the scent of the Heath and the -Whin!</p> - -<p class='c008'>One doesn’t know if it is exactly one’s soul that the -beauty touches, the appeal is so strongly to the senses. -But the soul is of it; for no mere physical joy can give -<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>such a serenity, such an airiness as of wings to the spirit. -Mr. A. C. Benson says, in some early book of his, that -one of the great proofs to him of the existence of God is -the feeling which comes at the sight of a very beautiful -prospect. We want to give ourselves to it—he says—to -be absorbed into it; and that is a movement of the soul, -for everything earthly is possessive.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Arabella, who is a very affectionate dog, flung herself -down beside her master, taking up a large share of the rug, -and pensively chewed gorse half the time, the other half -being absorbed in extracting its prickles from her chest. -Laddie, of course, slipped off to the chase. The two little -dogs, russet brother and little white sister, whiled away a -period of inaction: Betty, by circling round the bath-chair, -jumping in to assure its occupant that she loved her very -much and out again to show that she was a dog of tact; -and Loki, panting in his great fur coat ‹in which condition -he grins like a Chinese dragon with his roseleaf tongue -bent back in the oddest little loop between his white teeth› -by seeking cool spots wherein to repose—preferably under -the very wheel of the chair, to his Grandmother’s distraction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An afternoon to remember, when nothing happened but -the greatest happenings of all: God’s good gifts of sun -and wild moor and balmy air!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='figright id015'> -<img src='images/image248.jpg' alt='flower' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>The really artistic member of the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">famiglia</span></i> is Juvenal. -He settles all the flowers; and for that alone—for the -pleasure he gets from it and the pleasure he gives—he -is worth his weight in gold. The little gold and -mother-of-pearl tinted Italian drawing-room is always -a bower. Yesterday, on the silver table which stands -beneath a silver and gold Ikon, he set a vase of white -and yellow Roses. It was a touch of genius! We -are quite sick of reading how beautiful Primroses -look in Benares brass bowls. Personally, we dislike -brass bowls for flowers. Glass! Glass! There is -nothing as good as glass, especially when you have -the luck to possess, as we did, a case of old Dutch -moulded bottles. They were made in all kinds of delicious -angles—three-cornered, square, hexagonal—with Tulips -stamped in the glass: in such as these a couple of long-stemmed -Roses or Irises, and especially Tulips and Daffodils, -are at their very best.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have said “they were.” Alas for those Dutch bottles, -and for our folly, improvident wretches as we are, in -setting them about for our own pleasure, instead of shutting -them up in a cabinet! Of what were once eleven -perfect irreplaceable treasures ‹the twelfth had a large chip -off its neck from the beginning›, there are only five left! -Tittums, the splendid savage “smoke Persian,” swept the -biggest and best off a chimney-piece with taps of a -deliberately evil paw.... And the rest have gone the way -of vases!</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Very sorry, Miss” ‹it’s generally to the Signorina they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>come: she takes the edge off the Padrona’s fury›. “I -don’t know how it happened, I’m sure. It came to -pieces——”</p> - -<p class='c008'>‹Oh, let us stay our pen! Every owner of precious bric-à-brac -knows the awful sound of those words, and the -futility of resentment.›</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Master of the Villino had a teapot. Of yellow Cantagalli -pottery it was, with quaint adornments like caterpillars -all over it; it had a snake handle and a long curving -spout. He loved it. He never wanted to have his tea out -of any other vessel. One morning a stranger sat in its -place. He rang the bell severely. One of the nomad -footmen, who appear, and camp, and go away, answered it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My teapot.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>‹Yes, it was broken.›</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It came to pieces in your hand, I suppose?” said the -master sarcastically.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The injured expression of the misjudged became painted on -John’s face:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“No, sir,” he said with much dignity, “it shut itself in -the door!”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>MORE PEKINESE WAYS</div> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image249.jpg' alt='dog lying down' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki has had a bath, out of due season, because his own -artist has come down from London to -limn his imperial splendours for his -own book. We tried to make him -understand that it is only smug -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nouveaux riches</span></i> who imagine they can patronize art; that, -on the contrary, it is Art which condescends to us. He -put on his most Chinese face and became a crocodile on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>the spot. On such occasions his Grandpa calls him a -“Crocowog.” ‹This page is only for the pet dog-lover: -superior people, please pass on!› He is very nice to kiss -after his bath, a process attended on his side by subterranean -growls of protest and an alarming curling of the lip. But—dear -little gentle creature as he is at heart—it is not in him -to bite even the most persistent tormentor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When his Grandfather amuses himself by what he calls -“Squeezing the growls out” every morning, Loki tries vainly -to keep up a show of displeasure, but always ends on his -back with a windmill waving of pretty prayerful paws.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image250.jpg' alt='dog facing away' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki has his own very marked ideas on the subject of -jokes; at least he has one—in fact, an only -joke! It took his Grandfather some time to -apprehend it; but constant repetition of the -incident ‹after the consecrated fashion of the -British farce› is beginning to make him see -the point of it. The joke is this: at the top, -or the bottom, of the garden, as the case may -be, coming in from, or going out for, a walk, -Loki stands stock still, generally unperceived -till you are midway. No coaxing, whistling, -or screaming will budge him. He will stand -there a quarter of an hour, it may be. And -the point of the joke is that you must get -behind him and stamp your feet, and say “Naughty -Dog!” Then Loki careers up or down in paroxysms -of merriment. This may not appeal to some -people’s special bump of hilarity; and as it is useless to try to -explain a jest, we will leave those to enjoy the spinach story.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>England is so seldom visited by hot weather such as we -now have, that, especially in our little place with its foreign -stamp within and without, one keeps thinking of other lands. -There was the one hot summer we went visiting in country -houses in Italy—two country houses, to be precise, and -both of them were “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">castelli</span></i>.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A CASTELLO IN PIEDMONT</div> - -<p class='c008'>The first ‹which we preferred vastly› was on a high plateau -in the middle of the Piedmontese plain, not far from Turin. -From that entrancing spot the view lay over wide undulating -stretches of maize fields and vineyards; and the eye -could not turn North, West, East or South without -resting on a distant panorama of Alps or Apennines.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That was a hot summer with a vengeance! We were met -in the dusk of the evening—the soft warm dusk of such -days in Italy, when the caress of the air is like the touch of -velvet—by a gay little equipage drawn by three mountain -horses abreast, each with a collar of bells and a red hussar -plume erect on its forehead. It was the most merry vehicle -we have ever driven in. How those horses went! How -they tossed their heads and how their bells jangled!</p> - -<p class='c008'>A beautiful old French style castello it was, by no means -spoilt in our eyes by having been left with rough brick. -Now we hear that its ambitious owners have faced it with -stone and are themselves charmed with the result. No -doubt its original picturesqueness had its disadvantages, -for innumerable birds built under the eaves amid those -rough bricks. At the approach of any vehicle the air was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>full of flying wings. The flutter and the sound of them! -We thought the place all delightful and characteristic; -wonderfully more attractive than the pompous banality of -the now renewed mansion, photographs of which we have -since had mendaciously to admire.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Inside it was cool and charming; full of old French furniture -and irreplaceable family relics. Some of these have -recently been sold, to defray, no doubt, part of the cost of -the new exterior.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The sedan chair of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Madame la Maréchale</span></i> in pre-Revolution -days remains in my memory as a regret; it was a wonder -of old Vernis-Martin. We hope they have kept the great -flags that used to hang in the hall. The reigning châtelaine -did not really care for any of these old things. Her heart -was set on the joys of a Roman <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">appartement</span></i>, and its concomitant -social gaieties.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>GRANDCHILDREN</div> - -<p class='c008'>There was a spacious white hall with impossible paintings -of a boar hunt on its walls, opening upon an endless series -of reception rooms. And through these lofty chambers -three little children were running about in little white linen -tunics, and nothing on underneath, because of the heat of -the weather. Their hair was cut in mediæval fashion, -straight across the forehead and straight again across -the shoulders. There was also a most adorable baby of -eleven months carried about by a soft-eyed <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Balia</span></i>. Out -of the mountains she had come, this creature, to cherish -another’s child! And a series of misfortunes had fallen -upon her little home since her departure: the death of her -own nursling followed by the death of the cow! “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cara -moglie</span></i>,” her husband wrote on each occasion, “do not -grieve. It is the will of God!”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>There were no doubt other very simple reasons for these -catastrophes: the pitiable poverty of the family which had -made it necessary for the poor woman to sell her mother-rights, -and possibly the tainted milk of the sick cow which -had poisoned the little mountaineer. But call it fate, or the -intolerable economic system of modern Italy, it came round -in the end to the same thing. “Do not grieve, <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">cara moglie</span></i>. -It is the will of God!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had done her best to help her own, and this was her -comfort in her sorrow. It was not such a bad comfort; -and the most advanced thinker cannot prove after all that -it was not the will of God.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was difficult, too, for the foster-mother to weep long -when Baby Maddalena danced on the stone of the terrace -with little bare brown feet. She had the bluest eyes and -the brownest face that ever we beheld, and laughed and -gurgled as she danced, with very high action, upheld by -the ends of her sash by the adoring <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Balia</span></i>, whose own face -and neck above her string of gold beads were the colour of -a ripe apricot.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It would be difficult to have devised a fortnight of greater -interest, amusement, and quaintness than that of this -Piedmontese visit. It was a thoroughly foreign household. -The handsome white-bearded athletic father of the -Chatelaine, tied to his chair by an attack of gout, had his -apartments downstairs. And on an upper floor the -mother of the Marchese had her own complete establishment, -including a wonderful library, all tawny gold. There -was a baroque Chapel; and one of our most vivid recollections -was our pulling the children down by their sashes -as they swung themselves over the tops of the benches, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>doubled up like golden fleeces till their curly heads and -their little shoes touched.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One thing never to be omitted was to watch Monte Rosa -at sunset. The night before our departure there was a -thunderstorm far, far away in those Alps where Monte -Rosa rises in beauty. At every flash, peak beyond peak -shone out in distances hitherto wrapped away even from -the imagination.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Why does the sky do like that?” asked the second -boy, vigorously blinking his great eyes. With straight -black hair and an odd, serious little countenance, square-jawed -and long upper-lipped like a Medici out of Benozzo -Gozzoli’s frescoes, he was the most mediæval-looking of -all the children. We loved that four-year-old.... He has -grown up, we hear, “impossible” and a burden to his -family. We cannot help feeling it must be the family’s fault. -The elder boy, much handsomer though he was, did not -then promise so well. A terribly nervous child; the cry -“<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Ho paura</span></i>,” was always on his lips. It hurt his grandfather’s -pride that any son of his race should show such -degenerate timidity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One typical scene we were witness of. The little fellow, -in great awe of the peremptory, loud-voiced old sportsman, -approached him to say good-night; and, hanging his head -after the manner of the frightened child, stammered the -requisite “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bonsoir, Bonpapa</span></i>,” almost inaudibly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Instantly wrath broke out over him. ‹Bonpapa’s temper -had not improved with the gout.› “That was not the -manner in which to say good-night.”—“A man was to -look up: to speak straight.” “What does one say?” he -ended, shouting.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Pardon!</span></i>” cried the poor, terrified imp, with a wail.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This child, over whom were so many head-shakings, -doubts and laments, has grown up so brave and fine a boy -that it would have rejoiced the heart of the old Vicomte to -see him now. His was a stormy heart that wanted much -of life, and therefore, of course, knew much bitterness. It -is stilled now, alas! this many a year.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A CASTELLO IN LOMBARDY</div> - -<p class='c008'>From this comparatively modern mansion in the Piedmont -we went to an old, old castle in the plains of Lombardy. -The chronicles have it that Barbarossa besieged it. It -was approached through a considerable village—one of -great antiquity, and still retaining the lines of the Roman -<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">castrum</span></i>, with all its streets parallel or at right-angles. At -the top of the main of these the great machicolated entrance -of the Castello, with its faded frescoes across the arch, -was very impressive in mediæval strength. The church -shouldered one corner of the immense pile of outer wall; -and each side of the moat, between the towers, inside and -out, peasant houses had crept.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Castello itself, of extreme antiquity, as has been said, -formed two sides of a square, round, and flagged courtyard. -The garden ran sheer up the hill, within the tower-flanked -walls of the outer bailey. There were vineyards -inside; and outside, where the ground fell away, the whole -land was likewise covered with vines. They ran up and -down long ridges, like petrified waves, as far as the eye -could see. And in the far, far distance, almost lost in the -horizon, were the Alps.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What a view that was from the loopholes of those half-ruined -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>towers—especially at sunset, when there gathered a -rosy mist over that curious, wild-tossing expanse!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Could we go back now to that unique spot, what a vast -amount of æsthetic pleasure should we not draw from it? -But it must be admitted that we were gross-minded enough -at the time to allow material discomfort to overcome all -other impressions.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image256.jpg' alt='castle tower' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>To lodge in a genuine old Lombard Castle, with stone -floors and stairs hewn in the immense thickness -of the stone; to look out upon one side -into the moat, and to see the peasant -houses clinging to the massive foundations -far below like barnacles to a rock; to -look out on the other side upon the odd -rise of sunburnt garden up to the vineyard -and the towers; to imagine oneself -back into the very heart of the -Middle Ages may be very inspiring, -in theory. But mediæval sensibilities -were undoubtedly more blunted than ours. -The smell of that moat running with the -refuse of the crowded Italian village!... -For additional pungency, all the water in -the place came from sulphur springs! The -reek of it was in one’s nostrils all day from -merely washing in it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The household was composed of peasant -women out of the village. The wife of the -barber, the mother of the shoemaker, and others, -clattered about the stone passages in their <i>mules</i>—a -style of foot-gear which leaves the foot free from the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>instep. It was perhaps as well that the heels were high, -for their idea of housemaiding ‹a method which appertains -in most Italian households to this day› was first to walk -about with a pail and to slop water out of it over the flags -of the floor; then to sweep the resulting wet mess into -a puddle where the stone was worn most hollow or under -the carpet!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Some attempts at a housemaid’s sink had been excavated -in the stone at the head of the stairs outside our set of -rooms; but there was generally a small cataract of soapy -water dripping down the steps, for the simple practice of -the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">donna</span></i> that attended on our apartment was to stand on -the landing outside our doors and to shy the contents of -her bucket upwards.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The delightful friend with whom we stayed, though not -born of the country, had fallen quite resignedly into its -ways. And, indeed, the castle was chiefly ruled by the -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Princesse Mère</span></i>, a châtelaine of the old school, who used to -arise in the grey dawn and pull the iron chain of the great -bell that hung outside her windows, to call the vassals to -their daily work.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Come, come!” she was frequently heard addressing -some dependent or other whose movements were more -indolent than she approved of. “Are you here for your -comfort or for mine?”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The table was served, copiously, with singular Italian -dishes. There was a favourite soup with stewed quails in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>it: the whole animal, bones and beak and all! It is an -unspeakable dish to have set before you on a hot day. -Patties filled with cocks’ combs might follow. Even the -<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Risotto</span></i> was intermingled with such strange mincings of -liver and cutlet trimmings that one hesitated before venturing. -The <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Fritura</span></i>, needless to say, was in full force. -A lucky dip, that! You may come across yesterday’s -cauliflower, a bit of forgotten sweetbread, a slice of -sausage, a frizzled artichoke, and half the quail you -couldn’t eat the night before—all in one spoonful!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Besides the fierce matutinal summons of the domestic bell, -one’s sleep was constantly disturbed by a jangle of chimes -from the church: a perfect frenzy of joy-bells it was, so -prolonged and insistent that sleep was beaten out of one’s -brain as with hammers.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE ANGELS’ MASS</div> - -<p class='c008'>“What,” we asked our younger hostess, the third day -of this infliction, “what are these carillons, morning after -morning?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, that?—That is for the Angels’ Mass,” she answered -us indifferently.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The Angels’ Mass?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Yes. A child dead in the village.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“But every morning?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“There have been several deaths lately. It is the fever -from the rice fields.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Pleasant hearing for a woman with an only little daughter -just recovering from a rather serious illness! Every -smell that greeted her nostrils afterwards—and they -were of a diversified and poignant description—seemed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>laden with the germs of death. But the young <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Principessa</span></i> -had absorbed a good deal of the indolent indifference of -her adopted country towards hygiene.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You, with your English notions!” was all the comfort -her visitor got, offered in tones of good-humour not unmixed -with contempt. Or else: “What you smell, my -dear, is only carbolic; and that is very healthy.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>A few dabs of disinfectant had indeed been distributed -about the moat, on much the same principle, and with the -same effect, as the red pepper which is served with wild -duck, just to heighten the flavour of the dish.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>ENTOMOLOGICAL MYSTERIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>Perhaps the most lasting impression of that Lombardy -sojourn was the morning discovery in a glass of drinking-water -which had been placed beside the bed the previous -night, of the most extraordinary creature any of us had -ever seen. It was like a very large shrimp, perfectly transparent, -with such gigantic antennæ and legs that they -protruded over the top of the tumbler!</p> - -<p class='c008'>No one else in the castle had ever beheld anything like it -either, it appeared; except one old woman, who described -it vaguely as “<i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">una bestia del acqua</span></i>.” But as it most -certainly had not been in the tumbler when the water was -put into it, its origin remains for ever a mystery.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A few nights later the little girl of the party of travellers -found one of these zoological mysteries in a quite empty -tumbler! We might have thought it a practical joke played -on the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">forestieri</span></i>, only that no one could have come into -the room without the knowledge of its occupants.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This, and the sudden departure of the “chef” who had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>been responsible for the little quails in the soup, did upset -the equanimity of the pretty hostess.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“To think,” she cried, “that I should invite my best -friend here, to starve or poison her!... And that -unknown beasts should get into her drinking-water! -I—I have been here every summer for eleven years and I -have never seen a beast like that!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She thought we had dreamt the first monster. The second -was carried in to her, with its horrible transparent legs -bristling over the tumbler. She surveyed it hopelessly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Il ne manquait plus que cela!</span></i>”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Yet one looks back on it all with a kind of tenderness. It -was all so picturesque! What a dwelling might have been -made of that antique castle by anyone who had the money -and the art to spend it!</p> - -<p class='c008'>But, alas!... In the great stone bedchambers where we -lodged there were blinds with Swiss scenes depicted in the -most vivid colours: a mountain maiden and a Mont Blanc, -and a torrent upon each.... Incongruity could go no -farther—except perhaps in the billiard-room, which had -been done up by the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Principe</span></i> and was always shown off -with great pomp. It was a splendid vaulted apartment, -dating from the Barbarossa period; there were four deep -niches hewn out of the stone: well, in two of these were -placed large Chinese Mandarins, with heads that nodded -if anyone could reach high enough to set them going; and, -in the other two were plaster statues of the worst garden -description: Flora with a basket, Ceres with a lumpy -sheaf!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='aut' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span> -<a href='images/image263_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image263.jpg' alt='AUTUMN' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>AUTUMN</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image261.jpg' alt='landscape with man and pets' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXIII</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>SOME GARDEN GHOSTS</div> -<p class='c008'>There is no ghost in the garden of the Villino. Neither -the meek spirit of Susan nor Tom’s saturnine spectre -haunts the peaceful glade where they lie. ‹Juvenal has -planted a “Tree of Heaven” at the head of his ever-mourned -darling and covered the grave with Forget-me-nots!›</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>My youth ‹these reminiscences are contributed by Loki’s -grandmother› was spent in a large country place in Ireland, -and to us children—we were six then—certain walks, certain -dells in the woods, were assuredly haunted.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The property had long ago belonged to one Lady Tidd, who -so adored it that she had herself buried on a hill overlooking -it, her coffin upright in its tall square tomb. It was Lady -Tidd who was popularly supposed to haunt the fair wooded -lands that had come to us. This Dysart Hill, on the top -of which the ruined chapel and the deserted graveyard lay, -was a favourite walk of our childish days. When our -short legs had mastered the difficulties of the slope—and a -very stony slope it was, covered towards the summit with -a fine mountain grass, than which no footing is more -slippery—we never failed to wander round to that singular -<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>monument, through the massive granite door of which she -who stood in the upright coffin was supposed to be gazing -down upon the distant prospect of our own home. It was -never without an awful sense of horror and mystery that -I pictured those dead eyes, endowed with miraculous -vision, piercing through wood and stone to stare out upon -what she still loved. Some apprehension of the horror and -tragedy of bodily death and of the dread power of the spirit -seized hold of my small soul as I contemplated that grave -of human folly and of poor human aspiration. There it -was, perhaps, that an overpowering dislike of graveyards -began in me.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Lady Tidd was seen by a gardener of ours, between two -Yew trees, in a dark corner outside the garden wall.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“She riz up out of the ground at me,” he told my mother. -And he added, as a convincing detail, that his hat stood -up on his equally rising hair. “Sure, wasn’t me hat lifted -an inch off me head, ma’m?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>My mother, strong-souled creature as she was, laughed -with a fine scepticism. Another kind of spirit had done -the mischief, she declared. But we who heard could not -so easily dismiss the agonizingly fascinating tale. We -knew that spot outside the garden wall, in the shadow of -the black Yew trees; and the fear and the darkness that -always fell upon us when we passed it.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Another dreaded place was a certain Primrose dell, beautifully -starred with blossoms, beautifully green, beautifully -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>shaded; the very place for happy children, it would seem, -and for long hours of flower-picking gipsy teas and endless -games. It was quite lost in the woods that banded -the property, away from intrusions of nurse or -governess—and yet, how haunted! Never shall I forget—I -feel it now as I write—the profound misery that -would seize upon me at the very entrance to the laughing -glade.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I am not sure, however, that there was not a tangible -reason for this depression, connected with the disappearance -of a fondly-loved four-footed playfellow. A darling dog -he was: one of the jocose, high-spirited kind; his open -mouth and hanging tongue seemed to show him a partaker -in human mirth, with a waggish humour all his own. ‹No -pun is intended!› He had a rough tangled coat, black and -white, a flag of a tail, flopping ears. He was the swiftest, -gayest, most romping creature that has ever shared the -play of children. We adored him. His name was Carlo. -I don’t know of what breed he was, if of any.... Alas! -he hunted the sheep! He disappeared! No one knew -what had become of him. We children never ascertained -anything, but there was a rumour—a dark, untraceable, yet -most convincing rumour—that somebody had seen the -small, rough corpse hanging from a tree-trunk, not far from -the Primrose dell. Was it not that, perhaps, which haunted -the dell for me?</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE LOATHELY HERD</div> - -<p class='c008'>We suspected the herd. A large, fat, round-faced, smiling -man, this; with an unctuous, creeping voice that seemed to -gurgle up like a slow oil-bubble from inner recesses of -obesity. A man who at intervals would remark, seeing -us grouped about our mother, “You’ve a lovely lot of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>ladies, ma’m, God bless them!”—as if we were little pigs -or calves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He had a sinister reputation with us already on -account of his periodical dealings with sheep, which we, -tender-hearted and impressionable children, scarcely as -much as hinted to each other; and certainly never really -associated with the roast mutton that appeared twice a -week.</p> - -<p class='c008'>No, we did not like Green, the herd; and I, the smallest of -the “lovely lot,” would cling to my mother’s skirts when -his little twinkling eye turned in my direction.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>For a long time he was associated in my mind with the -horror of a conversation which passed between him and -my mother. How well I remember that day! We were -walking through one of the upper fields towards a village -called Hop Hall, which also belonged to the estate. It was -a lovely meadow with a curious little wood in the middle -of it, ringed like a moat by a streamlet in which the cattle -drank. This wood was full of wild Crab-apples; the -blossom of it hung over the water and was mirrored -therein. The field caught the sweep of wind that blew -from the top of the hill with the breath of the Pine-trees. It -was a carpet of Cowslips in the right season.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, as we walked, my mother and four little girls and -one little boy, the herd stumping along with a stick—he had -a lame leg—his ragged dog behind him, there came the -following interchange of remarks, which set a seal of -terror on my young mind. My mother mentioned her -intention of visiting Hop Hall, and then inquired how a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>certain old woman might be who dwelt there. She had -been long bedridden.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Troth, and she’s the same as ever!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My goodness,” exclaimed my mother, “why, she must be -nearly a hundred!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“She must be that, me lady.—Begorra, she’ll have to be -shot!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>My mother laughed, and so did the herd. The anguish of -the small listener passes description; and there ensued a -veritable haunting. The herd she could understand, she -knew him to be a criminal of the deepest dye. But her -mother!...</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was months before a benevolent governess discovered -the hidden sore, and explained and consoled. It was only -a joke! It left a rankling tenderness. I could see no -humour in it.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>It is no wonder that Irish children should be fanciful, surrounded -as they are, or were in my day, with the quaint, -superstitious beliefs of servants and peasantry. Our chief -nursery comfort and most beloved companion was the old -housekeeper, who had begun her life in the service of our -mother’s grandmother. That takes one back! Whenever -we had a free moment we trotted into her sitting-room for -pleasant conversation and, maybe, a biscuit, a bit of -chocolate or candy. She had the key of the stores.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I declare if I was made of sugar, you’d have me eaten!” -she would say; a cannibalistic possibility I made it a point -of earnestly disclaiming.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE THREE KINGS AND THE STAR</div> - -<p class='c008'>The linen room was where she sat, in a quaint, painted, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>high-backed armchair by the window. She gazed straight -out across a yard to a shrubbery dominated by three large -Fir trees over which the evening star would peep, a -tremulous yellow. She called those Fir trees her Three -Kings, and never failed to lift her hands in wonder and -gratitude over the beauty of the star. Poetry goes deep -into the hearts of the Irish.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>I can see that room now. The whole of one side was filled -with cupboards—presses, we called them—where, behind -buff wire gratings and beautifully fluted bright pink calico, -the linen was stored. A few nursery groceries, biscuit and -dessert oddments were kept in a cupboard just at the -entrance; and there was always a faint fragrance of raisins -and spice in the atmosphere. I can see the dear occupant -of the room too; the picture of beautiful old age, with -banded silver hair beneath the snow-white cap which was -tied with muslin strings under her chin. I can see her -apple-blossom cheeks and her blue eyes, clear and innocent -as a child’s, yet so wise! She had a white starched kerchief -folded across her black bodice, and her black skirt was -gathered with a great many pleats round the comfortable -rotundity of her figure. We used to find her sitting by the -casement in the twilight, gazing out. If the mood took me, -I would sit on her knee and stare out too. Every few -minutes or so she would sigh, not with sadness, but gently, -as the woods sigh, with scarcely perceptible movement on -a still night. But though I knew it to be no sigh of distress, -it nevertheless troubled me. I would ask anxiously:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Why do you sigh, Mobie?”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>Her answer was always the same:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Old age, Alanna!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Her name was Mrs. O’Brien, which was interpreted Mobie -by our baby lips.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In same fashion the first nurse, whom I only vaguely -remember, erect, small, severe, and kind, had degenerated -from Mrs. Hughes into Shuzzie; and the queer, tiny head -housemaid, baptized Bridget, was Dadgie. A unique -personage this, minute as she was active, with bobbing -bunches of grey curls on each side of her grey net cap -with purple ribbons which were tied under her chin. Upon -the rare occasions when some damage occurred to the -china or glass under her hands, she would trot into my -mother with the announcement:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, ma’am, I’ve made a ‘<em>foo pas</em>!’”</p> - -<p class='c008'>No one knew where she had picked up this inappropriate -bit of French.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Dear, quaint, pathetic, busy little creature, buzzing about -the house with a flapping duster! I have a vision of her -too, as I write: her huge poke bonnet overshadowing the -small, important face; her bobbing curls as she fluttered -in to confession in the oratory on those monthly occasions -when the old parish priest—another figure out of long past -times, he too, with his white head, his black stockings and -buckle shoes, his full-skirted coat—came out from the little -country town to “hear” the household.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE FAIRIES</div> - -<p class='c008'>My mother used to call the three old women servants her -three duchesses. Alas! two of these dignitaries passed -away very early in my recollection. Fortunately, Mobie, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>the best beloved, was left to us till later years. It is -to her that my thoughts most readily return.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image271.jpg' alt='profile of old woman' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>She was a store-house of anecdotes and legends. Never -would she speak, nor allow anyone to speak -before her, of the fairies otherwise than as -“the good people”; and then it was with -bated breath. It was established as a fact -among us that in her girlhood she had had -communication with them. Certainly, we believed, -she had seen them one evening dancing -in a ring; but never could she be got to tell -us in detail anything about these experiences. -The very mystery of her silence confirmed our -theory.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What a delightful volume one could have made -out of the tales that fell from her lips upon our -small listening ears by the nursery fire; or in the -linen room with its uncurtained window and its vision of -the Three Kings and the Star.</p> - -<p class='c008'>From many memories one floats back to me. It made a -great impression:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“... And when Tim Brenahan was on his way home -that evening, wasn’t it round by the wall he went, and -didn’t he see two great cats sitting on the top of it with -their tails hanging over? And didn’t one cat say to the -other, as plain as can be, and didn’t he hear it, just as you -do be hearing me:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Says one, ‘And what’s the news this evening?’ And -says the other, ‘No news at all,’ says he. ‘Only that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>the widdie Moloney’s old tabby’s gone at last,’ says he, -‘and it’s the great funeral will be to-night,’ says he.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And when Tim Brenahan came home to his wife, says -she to him, ‘And what’s the news this evening, Tim, -asthore?’</p> - -<div class='figleft id011'> -<img src='images/image272.jpg' alt='two cats sitting on a wall' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“And says he to her, ‘Faith, no news at all,’ says he, -‘save as I was coming home by the long wall beyont, there -was two great fellers of cats sitting on the -top of it. And says one to the other, -“The widdie Moloney’s tabb’s goney -at last,” says he, “and it’s the grand -burying on her there’ll be to-night.”’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And no sooner were the words -out of his mouth when his own -tom-cat ups with him and shakes -himself where he was sittin’ starin’ -at the turf, and says he ‘Then it’s -time for me to be off,’ says he, ‘or -I’ll be late for the funeral.’ And out -of the door with him, with his tail all -of a bristle....”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was rather awed by that story, which, to my infant -mind, bore the stamp of unmistakable veracity; but -nothing that proceeded from the linen room ever really -distressed me. Its ruling spirit was too benign and too -perfectly in harmony with us.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>AN OLD IRISH NURSE</div> - -<p class='c008'>The terror of those days to me was the fragile-looking, soft-voiced, -mincing widow who became our nurse after the death -of the fine old martinet by whom we had been ruled before. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>It was not surprising that our mother should have imagined -she was passing us over to a much gentler authority; but -as a matter of fact—indolent, ignorant, peevish—the new -nursery autocrat was given to enforcing her orders by -threats of a ghastly and impossible description.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I’ll cut your tongue out,” was a favourite menace, which, -if defied, would be supplemented by—“Wait, now, till I -run and get my scissors.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Stronger of body, more enlightened in mind, my co-nurseryites -treated these remarks with the scorn they -deserved. But I cannot describe the agony with which -they pressed upon me. It is peculiar to all children that -these terrors are never communicated to others. Not even -to my brothers and sisters would I breathe one word of -my apprehensions. But the misery took shape in horrible -dreams and sleepless nights. And when matters became -too intolerable, I would creep out of my little bed, and -patter across the bare boards into the adjoining room -where the housekeeper slept. On no single occasion did -she show the smallest severity or even annoyance -at being disturbed.</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image273.jpg' alt='little girl' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Mobie,” I would pipe, “I’m afraid!... May -I get into your bed?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Come in, Alanna,” was the invariable response.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Oh! the comfort of snuggling against her!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Whether she promptly fell asleep again, or whether -she watched and talked loving nonsense one felt -equally safe, equally blessedly happy. If she slept, -it was lightly enough, like all old people; and each -time she turned or moved in the bed, the small bed-fellow -would hear her murmur:</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>“The Lord have mercy on me!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not a deliberate prayer, scarcely even a conscious -thought, but the natural movement of the soul.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Little wonder that, being what she was, she who had lain -down every night, as it were, in the very arms of Providence, -should pass to her last sleep as simply and -fearlessly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Are you frightened, mother?” cried her daughter, bending -over her at the very end. She opened her eyes and -smiled.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Frightened? How could I be frightened? Am I not -going to my best friend?”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXIV</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Looking back now, it seems to me that the whole -of my childhood was pursued by one phantom or another. -The smell of the woods through the open nursery window -on a hot summer’s night turned me sick with an unspeakable -apprehension. Believers in reincarnation would -attribute this peculiarity to some sylvan tragedy in a -previous existence. No doubt there must have been a -physical explanation. I have come to the conclusion that -most things in life are capable of a double interpretation; -which is the same thing as saying that there are two -aspects to every question!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Is it usual for children, I wonder, to see such marvellous -colours, shapes, and appearances in the dark as both I and -a sister did, between the ages of five and eight? Kaleidoscopic -colours running one into the other, and an odd, -very frequently recurrent vision of a cushion covered with -gold pieces which poured down on the bed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>My husband, as a small child, would behold complete -scenes in the corner of his nursery, and would pull his -nurse on one side impatiently when she impeded his view. -And let me here note a curious incident connected with -his juvenile imaginings. All his life, as far back as he -could remember, he had a recurrent dream of terror—at -fairly rare intervals—of an immense wave rising up before -him like a mountain and curling over at the top, about -to overwhelm the land. He told me of this dream after we -were married, adding that though it was so distinct that he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>could draw it, he knew it for a purely fantastic nightmare; -knew that no such tall and steep wave as he beheld in his -sleep could exist in nature. A few years ago—we were -at Brighton, I remember—he brought up to me from the -hotel room an illustrated paper, and, laying it on the table -before me, said: “Look—there is my dream!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I looked. It was an illustration that held the whole page. -I saw a huge wall of water, rising sheer black, with a -toppling crest of white—an awful, threatening vision! I -read underneath: “Photograph of the recent tidal wave in -Japan.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Who can explain the mystery? He had had that dream -first as a baby boy in Paris, some forty-five years before. -No such sight, no such picture had ever come across his -waking consciousness.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A tidal wave in Japan ... so far has my discursive mind -led me from garden ghosts!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We know a haunted garden belonging to an old Manor -House in Dorsetshire which was our abode one summer, -five or six years ago. The house had once been Catherine -Parr’s. It was full of ghosts too, but I am none too sure -that they were mellow sixteenth-century spectres; rather -I believe were they the objectionable offspring of a table-rapping -spiritualistic owner.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE FORGOTTEN NUN</div> - -<p class='c008'>The garden ghost was, to our thinking, neither Tudor nor -modern, but that of a sad little eighteenth-century nun. -For, passing through many hands, the place had for a time -been a convent. A gentle community, turned out by the -French Revolution, had been offered a refuge in this far -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>corner of England by the then papist possessor of “The -Court.” The place had its previous story of faith and -persecution: its parish church, which had long clung to the -old dispensation, and its priest martyr still lying in the -little churchyard. All this is forgotten now. We knew -nothing of it, nor of the nuns; but oddly enough, when -we came into the house, one of us said to the other: -“I am sure there was a chapel here.”</p> - -<div class='figright id007'> -<img src='images/image277.jpg' alt='nun' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Well, when the nuns packed up their goods and -returned to France, they took away with them -too ‹so tradition says› the coffins of some -sisters who had been buried in the garden. Surely -they had forgotten one! What else could account -for the dreadful melancholy which fell -upon us at a particular turn of the walk that -ran round that sunny, bowery enclosure? There -was nothing whatsoever suggestive about the -spot. The high, warm wall with the spreading -fruit trees rose on one side; an Apple tree and a -clump of Hazels held the other—yet so sure as -one came to this place the heart was gripped, the -spirit seized. We each of us felt it; visitors felt -it. That dear, departed cat, Tom, of venerable -memory—he was a great ghost-seer—he felt it—nay, -he saw it! His tail would bristle, his fur -stare, he would stand and then flee as if pursued -for his life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The poor little nun, lying in a foreign land, away from -the rest of her sisters, forgotten!—Ghosts have walked -for much less. In fact, it is curious to note that the -restlessness of most authenticated ghosts seems due to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>an objection to their place of burial. And on this score—if -the anecdote takes me away from gardens, it brings me -back to them in the end—I have in my mind another tale. It -is a true story, as the children say, connected with a house -which we have often visited in Ireland: an old monastery, -full of that curious depression in its stateliness which -so many confiscated church properties retain. It was -haunted in many ways.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Personally, beyond unpleasant sensations in traversing -some particular corridor and landing, we never met any -ghost in the Abbey. But then we were not placed in <em>the</em> -ghost-room.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A STRONG MIND CONVINCED</div> - -<p class='c008'>An old friend of our hostess, an elderly lady, was not so -kindly treated. She was a spinster of robust constitution -and strong mind; a type of the particular generation -which comes between the nervous gentility of the Early -Victorian sisterhood and the present day “suffrage” -community. No doubt the mistress of the Abbey -believed her ghost-proof. But she was mistaken. After -the first night in the Lavender Bedroom, the visitor’s appearance -at breakfast pointed so conclusively to the fatigue of -sleeplessness that, with some misgiving, her friend drew -her on one side to question her in private:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Were you disturbed, Lucy?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I was, Mary.” The maiden lady was not a person -of many words.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Did you—did you ... see any thing, Lucy?” exclaimed -the hostess. The family had but lately come into possession; -and the idea of haunters and haunted annoyed -rather than frightened her.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I did,” said the friend firmly.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>Some persuasion was necessary before she would relate -her experience. At last it was extracted from her in some -such shape as this:</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>“I couldn’t sleep. Towards two in the morning I heard a -noise. I thought it was rats. I sat up in bed to feel for the -matches: couldn’t find them. There came a light, on the -opposite wall. I stared. I saw a monk in it. He began to -move. He didn’t look alive: he looked like a magic lantern. -He went out of the room through the closed door. I got up, -opened the door, looked out into the passage. Yes, Mary, -the light was there, and the figure in it, too. It moved along -the wall. I followed it. It disappeared before the cross -doors. I went back to bed. No, I’m not frightened, but -I haven’t slept. I’d like another room, please. No, I -wasn’t asleep—it wasn’t a dream. I can’t explain it. Nor -you either, I suppose.”</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The hostess pondered. It was true she couldn’t explain. -She had heard of that apparition before—perhaps had seen -it. It was certainly very annoying. She promised her -friend to give instant orders for the preparation of another -room; and then made a request that the matter should -not be mentioned to her daughter—an impressionable, -imaginative girl of eighteen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The maiden lady snorted. It wasn’t likely.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Rosamund, the daughter, had of course known all about it -long ago; while, after the fashion of her kind, keeping her -counsel demurely before her elders, she had discussed freely -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>the thrilling appanage of her new home with all the companions -of her own age who came to stay at the Abbey.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was she who was destined to lay the ghost. One rainy -afternoon later in the same summer, the young members of -the house-party found themselves stranded together in the -great hall, and Rosamund cheerfully suggested table-turning -and spirit-rapping to while away the time till tea. It is a -never-failing amusement.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Having produced a satisfactory condition of lurching, and -elicited several quite distinct raps from the round -mahogany table, she cried out:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Let us call up the ghost.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Responsive knocks came, loud and marked. A system of -communication was promptly established. Two raps for -yes, one for no. Then the questioning began.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With much laughter and some agreeable tremors, it was -ascertained that the monk-ghost belonged to the community -which had dwelt so long at the Abbey; that he was dissatisfied -with his present place of burial, which was outside -the old monks’ burying-ground, now a part of the actual -garden.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is always safe, as I have said, to question a ghost on -this point. Now, however, some difficulty ensued when, -through the limited medium, the rapping spirit endeavoured -to specify the spot of its present abode, and the field was -too wide for exactness—until a young sailor cousin intervened. -He had been playing, in mere idleness and utter -scepticism, the rather gruesome game. But at this point -he roused himself, interested to put the matter to the proof. -He fetched pencil and paper, and drew up a scheme of -latitude and longitude with reference to the garden walls; -<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>and finally determined the position where the discontented -ghost announced that his bones were actually reposing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With professional neatness he made a plan of the shrubbery, -marked the grave thereon, and the whole party resolved to -sally forth with spades “to see if the old ghost spoke the -truth.” The sailor cousin was particularly jocose in -unbelief.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>LAID AT LAST</div> - -<p class='c008'>Yet truly, the next day, in the very place designated, they -came upon bones—to be exact, upon a skeleton complete -save for the skull. The sailor was the first to rush back -to the Abbey and collect a circle for a fresh séance. And -once more the phantom monk rapped out latitude and -longitude in connexion with his skull; once more he was -found to be a ghost of the most complete veracity. And -the end of this true story is that the skeleton, complete -with its cranium, was laid duly and reverently in the old -consecrated ground in the garden. And the monk appeared -no more in the Lavender Room.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXV</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>I promised to return to gardens, and here I am. -What a garden that was! Not a bit uncomfortable in -spite of its company of departed friars. The monk’s old -Yew Walk was there; such a one as has not its match -in the kingdom, I believe. There too were fields of -“Malmaison” Carnations. Never have I beheld such -lavishness before or since. The scent of the things! It -was our hostess’s rather extravagant fancy. I don’t -know that I exactly envy it. It was almost too much, -but yet it was a wonder!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>I think it was a dream of very childish days that started -my haunting dread of graveyards; that, and the peculiar -desolation of the little burial-place through which we -passed every Sunday morning to go to the Chapel near -our country home. It was what is called in Ireland a -“station,” that is a Chapel of Ease, which was only -attended on Sundays and shut up on week-days. Deprived -of the flicker of the Sanctuary lamp, the place seemed, -except for that brief Sunday service, as deserted within as -it was forlorn without.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>GREEN GRAVES</div> - -<p class='c008'>I dreamt that all those poor neglected green graves—there -was hardly one with even a black painted cross to mark -it—had become endued with ghastly life and started in -pursuit of me down the familiar country road. In a frightful, -stealthy silence they wallowed and leaped, gaining -on me as I ran, in my dream, in a panic that I can hardly -even now bear to think back on.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>For years afterwards I never walked away from that little -churchyard, even in the large and cheerful company of my -sisters, clutching the solid hand of governess or nurse, -without the nightmare terror coming on me again. Not -a word did I breathe of it, of course; but I would -look back over my shoulder, at every turn of the -road, horribly expecting to see those uncanny -green hounds on the trace of my miserable -little heels.</p> - -<div class='figright id011'> -<img src='images/image283.jpg' alt='children walking' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was only in my walks I feared, however. -When driving backwards and forwards to -Mass I felt I could defy the graves. We -always drove to the Sunday Mass. How -vivid are the impressions of those early -days! As I write I have before me the -whole scene. Just before the cracked -bell ceased ringing, we would file up -the little front aisle and enter the pew -reserved for us; my mother very solemn, -with what we called her church face; -our two governesses and we children. -In summer each of the four little girls -wore a new starched, very full-skirted print -frock; and the one little boy of the party a -white duck suit equally stiff from the wash. -Our wooden pew ran on the right side of the -Sanctuary rails and was shut off by a little door from the -rest of the chapel. It had long bright red rep cushions, and -the wood-work was painted a peculiarly pale yellow, handsomely -and wormily grained! Just opposite to us, the -better class farmers’ families were installed; and every -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>new fashion that appeared in our bench was promptly -copied by the bouncing Miss Condrens and Miss Mahons -opposite.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was, I recollect, one personage who inspired me -with great admiration. She was a Mrs. Condren and her -Christian name was Eliza. The daughter of what is -called a “warm farmer,” she had been forbidden all thoughts -of matrimony by him, who held the holy estate in as -much disfavour as did Mrs. Browning’s father.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well on in years, and presumably bored by her maiden -state, she had at length eloped with an elderly admirer; -and though she had “done very well for herself” and her -spouse was quite as “warm” as her papa, the latter maintained -towards them both an undying resentment. No -wonder Mrs. Condren moved in a halo of romance in our -eyes. Added to this she was always very handsomely -attired in a shining purple silk, which filled the chapel with -its rustle. She also sported a yellow bonnet with bunches -of wax grapes and—last touch of elegance—dependent -from its brim, a lace veil embroidered also with grapes, a -cluster of which completely covered one eye and part of -her cheek.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Quite another type was old Judy in her little brown shawl -and lilac sun-bonnet, who knelt ostentatiously just in front -of the altar rails, apart from the rest of the congregation; -and who punctuated the service and sermon with loud -clacks of her tongue, groans from and thumps upon her -attenuated chest. My mother was once highly amused by -Judy’s pantomime during a particular discourse.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>BLESSED ARE THE POOR</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Blessed are the poor,” announced the young curate with -his rolling Irish emphasis.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>Here was a statement quite to Judy’s taste. Loud were -her groans of approval. She turned up her eyes with -great piety, and the gusto with which she beat her breast -indicated that she took the benediction entirely to herself. -“But don’t think, me brethren,” went on the ecclesiastic -warningly, “that this means that because you’re poor in -purse you’re pleasing to God. It’s the poor in spirit that -I do be meaning. There’s many a poor body with a proud -heart.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now poor old Judy must have been conscious of the -possession of this spiritual drawback; for even as she had -taken the text as a direct compliment, so she now took the -corollary to it as a personal insult. She drew herself up -with a jerk and threw a glance of furious reproach at the -speaker. No more groans should His Riverence have out -of her! No—nor tongue clacking, nor chest thumpings -either!</p> - -<p class='c008'>For the rest of his sermon she remained rigid, fixing her -gaze upon him with an unwavering glare of disapproval.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>As the priest had to come from a considerable distance, he -was generally late; and as the congregation itself straggled -in from over the hills, sometimes much before the hour, it -was the pious custom at Rathenisha for the two model -damsels of the congregation each to read aloud out of -a different book of sermons for the edification of the -assembly in the delay before Mass. They had fine loud -voices and read simultaneously; the effect can be better -imagined than described. One ear would be struck by -genteel accents proclaiming, “Admoire the obedience of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>Joseph, me brethren. Did he repoine, did he hesitate?”—the -while the other ear was assailed by a rich brogue -announcing, “The sentence is already past. Thou must -doi. How many have gone to bed at noight in apparent -good health—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was some such threat as this, intermittently caught from -the side of the deepest brogue, which would terrify my -small mind. The whole churchyard, with its horror of -green graves, would seem to close about me. And how -much worse it was should there chance to be a new, raw -mound without!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>One of the Mahon girls did indeed illustrate the gloomy -treatise in a manner appalling to my secret state of -apprehension. She died quite suddenly while dancing at -some rural festivity. Rumour had it it was tight-lacing -which had produced the tragedy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Wasn’t she black all down one side, the crathur?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah, maybe—but she was always a yaller girl,” opined a -wise matron.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Dimly I can recall that she had the pallor that goes with -swarthy hair and eyes. A handsome creature, but not of -the type admired by her class. The poor girl’s sudden end -formed a stirring illustration for the second curate’s sermon -the Sunday after the funeral.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>A PERSUASIVE TONGUE</div> - -<p class='c008'>“What did I say, me brethren, last time I stood preaching -here at you? Didn’t I say who could tell who would be -missing before the year was out? And look now at the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>wan that has been taken—a foin, sthrapping young girl, one -of the foinest, I might say, in this parish.... Not an ail -on her a few days ago, and where is she now?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>He jerked his thumb terribly through the little glass window -at the side. The congregation enjoyed it enormously. -There was a sucking of breaths, a clacking of tongues and -subdued groans of approbation; and a good deal of rocking -backwards and forwards on the part of Judy, who as -usual squatted on her heels at the edge of the altar rails. -But, poor little wretch that I was, how I quaked!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The second curate was an excellent young man, of the -sturdy type familiar to many Irish districts in those days. -The people called him “rale wicked,” and loved him proportionately—“wicked,” -in their terminology, having a -very different significance from the word used in its English -sense. “Wicked” to them refers but to the flame of the -fire of zeal; and they like to feel it scorch them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When from the altar steps he threatened by name certain -recalcitrant black sheep of his congregation who were -neglecting their Easter duty, to be “afther them with a -horsewhip if they didn’t present themselves ‘at the box’ so -soon as he had his breakfast swallowed,” there was a -thrill of admiration through the chapel. That was being -“wicked” after a fashion they all appreciated. And when, -after his breakfast had been gulped down, he duly appeared -with a horsewhip, the results were immediate and excellent. -His morning meal, in parenthesis, got ready for him by a -neighbouring farmer’s wife and served to him in the little -damp sacristy, invariably consisted of three boiled eggs, -besides the usual pot of poisonous strong tea. Three -eggs is the number consecrated to the cleric in Ireland.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>At a certain Connemara hotel a curious visitor, hearing -the orders shouted out: “Bacon and eggs for a lady,” -“Bacon and eggs for a gentleman,” “Bacon and eggs for -a priest,” ventured to inquire the differentiation. The -answer was prompt and simple.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Wan egg for a lady; two for a gentleman; and three for -a priest!”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXVI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>NECROPOLIS</div> - -<p class='c008'>I have solemnly sworn my family that when I die I am -not to be buried in a “Necropolis.” Horrible thought, a -“city” of the dead! To hate the herd when living, and to -be forcibly associated with it till the Day of Judgment, if -not evicted to make room for fresh tenants!</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the very early months of my marriage we were obliged -to take up our abode in a large northern town, for Loki’s -future grandfather had to study certain aspects of newspaper -management. Never was anything more difficult to -find than a roof for our heads in that place of teeming -activities. Worn out with a long and fruitless search we -were at last landed in a higher quarter of the town at the -house of a dentist! The dentist was going away for a holiday, -and was ready to put at our disposal, for a consideration, -the whole of the clean, fresh, quite unobjectionable little -abode, reserving only one room—his chamber of horrors!</p> - -<p class='c008'>I interviewed an elderly thin-faced lady, with, as became a -dentist’s mother, a very handsome smile. She brought me -to the window. We looked down on waving tree-tops -and a wide space of green in the gathering dusk of the -September evening.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“You see,” she said, “we have a most pleasant view.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>I gazed. That stretch of green silence and restfulness, -after all those sordid roaring streets, decided me.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We will take the house!” I cried, in a hurry lest we -should miss such a chance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I always think,” said the dentist’s mother, smiling still -more broadly, “that it is a great advantage to be opposite -the Necropolis.”</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>Poor innocent as I was, and country bred, I had no idea -of the meaning of the word.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I was soon to discover. Funerals are of more than daily -occurrence in a mighty city. Oh! the processions that I -stared down upon from the drawing-room window, through -the fog and the rain—gloom generally enveloped that centre -of manufactures! I was left long hours alone; no one -but an impertinent French maid with whom I could -exchange my ideas. The proceedings in the Necropolis -had a hypnotic attraction for me. I began to feel quite -certain that it was gaping for my poor little bones, and -that they must inevitably rest there. Finally, I extracted -a solemn oath that, whatever happened, this should not be -the case—a promise momentarily soothing, but far from -lifting the weight of depression that pressed upon me.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To add a touch of revolting comedy to my experiences, -the owner of the house returned abruptly from his holiday -and took possession of the locked-up room for an -afternoon, for the purpose of extracting all the teeth of a -special friend. I fled from the house in terror, when Elise -‹who hated me› informed me with much gusto of the impending -excitement. Needless to say, however, she regaled -me with every groan on my return, and all the -details she had been able to pick up from the parlourmaid—left -by the dentist, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en parenthèse</span></i>—who had counted the -teeth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The nightmare shrinking from death and its dreadful appanages -is one that is mercifully passing from me. But I -envy those who can take the great tragic facts of existence, -not only with simplicity, but with a kind of enjoyable -interest.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>A Hungarian friend of ours derived much solace in the loss -of an adored mother by the choosing of a coffin—“Louis -XV, with little Watteau bows of ormolu.” She smiled -with real joy, through her tears as she described the casket -to us, adding:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And I have chosen just such another for myself for ven -I die!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She stared in amazement when I remarked that I should not -care what my coffin was like.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Vat?” she exclaimed, “not like to be buried in a Vatteau -coffin? But it is so pretty!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Alas! she lies in her pretty coffin, and our world is much -the poorer. But we are sure that during the long months -of her last illness, when she shut herself away from every -one in the solitude of her great Hungarian property, to face -death alone, the thought of those Watteau bows was a -distinct satisfaction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Never was there a creature so instinct with life as she! -It was little wonder she could not imagine herself as past -caring for the small pleasures for which she had always -had so keen a taste. She never lost the heart of a child. -Though when last we saw her she must have been, as -years go, almost an old woman, there was no touch of -age about her: only a snowier white of her hair made her -more like an adorable little Marquise than ever. Her -pretty picturesque ways were unchanged, her eager sympathy, -the delicious freshness of her mind, the lightness, -the charm, the simplicity.</p> - -<p class='c008'>She had a soft oval face; rich southern tints; the bluest -eyes between black lashes that it is possible to imagine; -her small nose like a falcon’s beak—which gave a character -<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>of decision, an untamed, spirited look to the whole countenance. -The word savage could not apply to anything -so exquisitely dainty in manner and appearance; and yet -one felt the long line of savage ancestry at the back of her, -a wildness no other European nation would show in such -a flower of its race. And, to finish the description, no one -had ever so pretty a mouth with the smile of a child and a -thousand fascinating expressions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Life had dealt very hardly with her, as is sometimes the -case with such buoyant souls. She lost all she loved, and -was left in the end with half a province in land, and -no creature nearer than the son of a second cousin to -whom to bequeath the vast inheritance.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>JOHNNIE’S SOUL</div> - -<p class='c008'>Wedded to an English officer in the Austrian service, while -still in her teens, one might have thought she would have -had a better chance of domestic bliss than if her choice had -fallen upon one of her own countrymen; since, above all -in those middle Victorian days, the English home and the -English virtues are so proverbial. But he was all that a -husband ought not to be. And her only child died in -babyhood. For thirty years she devoted herself in an -alien land to what she conceived to be her duty. A -fervent believer in the higher destinies of man and the -necessity of repentance, she would say, “I will not give -up Johnnie’s soul.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The dashing Chevau-leger became an old curmudgeon of -the crankiest description. To a less courageous spirit life -would really have been intolerable beside him. Nevertheless -the small London house near the Park, every window -of which was bright with flower-boxes, was as gay within -as it was without, and friends flocked to those Sunday -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>tea-parties—the only entertainments she was permitted to -give.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Well, she had the reward she craved. Johnnie “made his -soul,” in Irish parlance, quite sufficiently long before -softening of the brain became too marked to preclude -intelligent action. And after three years more she was -able to send that telegram to her intimates: “Released!” -It was the cry of one who had been enslaved and in prison -for all her youth and all her bright womanhood.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But, characteristically, “Johnnie’s” funeral was a matter -of great importance. He had been very fond of driving four-in-hand, -and so there were four horses to the hearse that -conveyed all that was left of the Tyrant to Kensal Green. -It was as splendid as lavish instructions could make it; -and the little widow would pop her head out of the window -at every turning to watch the noble appearance of the -hearse with its nodding plumes and murmur contentedly:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Poor Johnnie, he vas so fond of driving behind four -horses: I vas determined he should have it for de last -time!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were not a little startled to receive a postcard a few -weeks later, containing the cryptic phrase:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Just re-buried Johnnie!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Johnnie had always been a trial of a unique description. -Was it possible that he had put the laws of nature at -defiance and returned to torment his long-suffering spouse? -But the explanation was simple. She thought it so simple -herself as to admit of its expression, as we have said, on a -postcard.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When she had left him among all those ranks of dead, the -thought came to her that he was dissatisfied with his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>resting-place and would prefer to be laid with his ancestors. -And so Johnnie was promptly dug up from -where he had been deposited with so much pomp, removed -across half England, and “reburied.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>If it was true that, like so many ghosts, he was particular -about his tomb, I can quite understand his displeasure in -this instance. As I have said, I share it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He lies now just outside the park where he played as a -child, under the lee of the little church where he said his -first innocent prayers, and his dust will mingle with the -dust of his grandsires.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Such a quiet, peaceful spot! Immense cornfields skirt it -on the one hand and on the other the great woods.</p> - -<p class='c008'>May I lie in some such hallowed, uncrowded acre!</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXVII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Irish born as I am, there is something in the breath -of Ireland that makes my heart rise. The sound of the -soft Irish voices is music to my ear. I forgive the slipshod -ways because of the general delightfulness. Distressful -country as it is—more than ever, now, alas! the battle-ground -of factions—from the moment of our landing -joyfully on its shores, to the sad hour of parting, our -too rare visits to Ireland have been punctuated by kindly -and innocent laughter. Impossible, beloved people! They -break the heart of the politician and of the reformer; but -how enchanting they are to just a foolish person such as I -am, who likes to go and live among them and enjoy them -without political bias; who can laugh at and with them, -and love them as they are!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our last journey to Ireland began in mirth, and ended in -the agonies of a bad passage which accentuated all our -regrets. The traject thither had been accomplished with -no such drawbacks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Master of the Villino is remarkably indifferent to -anything the sea can do; but I like to have a comfortable -cabin to myself, and a large port-hole for the sea-wind to -blow through. I cannot say I’m fond of feeling like the -German lover:</p> -<div class='lg-container-b c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i><span lang="de" xml:lang="de">Himmel-hoch jauchzend, zu Tode betrübt</span></i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>between wave and hollow. But it is the woes of other -people that really undo me. On this particular passage—a -bright fresh day it was, with what’s called, I suppose, -“a choppy sea”—I was quite ready to defy the elements, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>when suddenly there arose, from the next-door cabin, -sounds.... No—even in recollection these things are not -to be dwelt upon!</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My dear,” said I to my companion, “let us talk and -drown the outcries of this shameless and abandoned -woman.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Fortunately I had a companion with whom conversation -is always as easy as it is interesting. We began to enjoy -our own pleasant humour very much, and did not allow a -moment’s silence to fall between us, lest—</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were travelling by North Wall; and when the placidity -of the Liffey odoriferously enfolded us, we emerged cheerfully -on deck to join some friends, for the sake of whose -agreeable company we had chosen this particular route.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The dear little lady who was about to be our hostess we -found charitably administering dry biscuits to a very -dilapidated-looking, green-faced young woman with the -unmistakable appearance of—but again, no!</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Poor Mrs. Saunders has been feeling so faint,” said our -friend, with the cheerful sympathy of the good sailor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were introduced to the languid one.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Poor thing,” we said, “you do look bad! Have you -been ill?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>One is very crude in one’s questions on board ship.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, no; not ill!” She flung the suggestion from her -with an acid titter. Then rolling a jaundiced eye upon us:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Were you ill?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, no,” we said; “we quite enjoyed the passage.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The sufferer turned her glance from our brutality to the -sympathetic neighbour.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“If I could have slept,” she said plaintively. Then she -<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>looked back darkly at us. “There were some horrible -people in the cabin next me, who would talk, and talk, and -talk.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well,” we exclaimed, and it was indeed in all innocence, -“you were at least better off than we were. For there -was a creature in the cabin next to us—the most disgusting—the -most unbridled—”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was not till we saw the dreadful rage in her eyes -that we realized! It is a horrible little anecdote, but it -started us laughing even before we set foot on the -quays.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>IRISH VIGNETTES</div> - -<p class='c008'>The next incident partakes of the tragi-comedy in which -every Irish problem is set. All Ireland stands like one of -those figures of mimes on an old drop-curtain; a laughing -face behind a tragic mask—or indeed the reverse. We -laughed while our hearts grew sad at the sight of a -stalwart devil-may-care individual in a frieze coat who -strolled up to a group of jarvies while we sat in the cab -waiting for our luggage to be loaded. The whole business -was conducted with a fine artful carelessness. Now one, -now another of the standing group of cab-drivers would -lurch up against him of the frieze coat or clasp him jovially -by the hand, and there would ensue a passage of coppers -from one grimy palm to another. Then out of a deep -side-pocket of the frieze coat a black bottle would be -drawn, with all the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">désinvolture</span></i> of the conjuring trick. No -doubt some four yards away on either side stood a -policeman; the illicit traffic was conducted, so to speak, -under his nose. But, splendid fellow as he is, is he not, -too, an Irishman? He knows when to sniff in another -direction.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>‹And here we may parenthetically remember a charming -and typical spectacle which once met our eyes in the -County Wicklow: a local police station, a large placard -commanding that all dogs shall be muzzled, and five or six -curs of different low degrees snapping untrammelled in the -sunshine at the feet of two smiling members of the constabulary.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Some brutish Saxon member of our party stops to point -out the discrepancy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Unmuzzled, is it?” says the elder policeman genially. -“And, begorra, so it is, ma’am. But, sure, isn’t that Tim -Connolly’s little dog? Sure, what ’ud we be muzzling -him for? Thim orders is only for stray dogs!”›</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>DRIVEN IN STYLE</div> - -<p class='c008'>We drove away across the cobbled Dublin streets at a -hand gallop. Whether the poor animal that drew us had -to be kept at this unnatural speed lest it should collapse -altogether, or whether our “jarvey” had had more than -one pull at the black bottle I know not; certainly we went -in peril of our lives. Shaving off corners, striking the edge -of the curb, oscillating violently from side to side, the -antique vehicle threatened at every leap and bound to -break into fragments like a pantomime joke. The Dublin -cab is a thing apart. From the musty straw upon which -your feet rest, to the dilapidated blue velveteen cushion -upon which you leap, to its wooden walls and rattling -windows, you would not find its like upon any other point -of the globe. It searches you to your least bone socket; -and the noise of its career deafens your wails on the -principle of the “painless extractor” at the fair, who blows -a trumpet for every wrench.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>It was useless for us to thrust our heads out of the window, -like “Bunny come to town”; the frightful clatter of an -arrest, a grunt, and a start at fresh speed were the only -result. We trembled in every limb and so did the poor -horse, as we were at last flung out in front of our hotel -with a jerk that nearly broke the bottom of the cab -in two.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We tendered what we knew to be considerably more than -the fare. The driver surveyed it and looked at us, then -rolled a disgusted glance back to the coins, and dropped -them into his pocket.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Is that all? And me afther dhriving you in such -style!”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXVIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>Humours pursued us during our brief sojourn in the -hotel. We are very fond of that hotel. It is associated -with the repeated charm of its hospitable reception on each -of our visits. We were glad to see we were given the same -set of rooms as on a previous occasion; and when we -found the same broken lock on the door, we felt indeed -that we were among old friends.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When our tea was brought—we were lying down to rest—we -had however to ring and protest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Look at this spoon!” we exclaimed dramatically.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The soft-voiced maid looked at it quizzically.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“What is it?” Then she smiled. “It’s apt to have -been in the honey, by the look of it,” she observed -dispassionately.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Please take it away,” we said, “and bring another.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She thought us strange and dull of wit. There was a clean -napkin on every plate. But—no doubt with a mental -“Ah, God help us. Travellers is queer folk!”—she -departed, we feel sure, no farther than the passage, there -to wipe the honey off on the inside of her apron.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A GARDEN IN MEATH</div> - -<p class='c008'>The next day saw us landed at a small wayside station in -the rich flat land of Meath, where we were met by a charming -old-fashioned “turn out,” a handsome waggonette and -a sturdy pair of carriage horses. At least we thought the -waggonette old-fashioned and delightful, in these motor -times; but it seems it was on the contrary new and -wonderful.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The coachman surveyed us tentatively two or three times -while our divers small goods were being collected, magisterially -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>directing the footman with the butt end of his whip. -Presently he broke into speech:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Will you be noticing the carriage, sir?” he remarked, -addressing the head of the party. “Her Ladyship’s just -bought it. I chose it for her meself, so I did. It’s a grand -contrivance. You can have it the way it is now, and it’s -real comfortable, isn’t it, sir? But sure, you can turn -it into an omnibus. And you’d never believe now, -how many it would hold. I drove six ladies to a ball -in it the other night, and not one of them crushed on -me—And fine large ladies they were,” he observed -admiringly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We do wish he would not tell every one that,” observed -one of the “large ladies” a little later. “Every time he’s -gone to the station in the new waggonette this summer -he’s told that story.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>But she was quite good-humoured and amused. Indeed, -her largeness was of the beautiful order. It was no -wonder the coachman was proud of conveying it uncrushed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The gardens where these hostesses dwelt were pleasantly -green and flowery. There was the usual high-walled -garden. Villino Loki, with its absurd terraces, can never -dream of attaining to such an enclosure of antique charm. -For if we walled in the Kitchen and Reserve Garden at -the foot of our hill we should wall out the moor from -below, and obstruct our sweeping vision from above. But -my heart yearns to an old walled garden. A place quite -apart, with its mingled odours of herb and flower and -ripening fruit; with its perpetual murmur of bees, its -tangled walks, its old bushes of Rosemary and Lavender, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>its mossy Apple-trees, its crisp Parsley beds, its tumble-down -greenhouses.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image302_306.jpg' alt='garden view - two pages wide' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='sidenote'>CURBED AMBITIONS</div> - -<p class='c008'>This particular walled garden was a very good specimen -of its kind. It was here that our ignorance first made -acquaintance with the invaluable Cosmia; that treasure -of the herbaceous border -that keeps on -blooming in the -face of adversity -from June -till November. -There -was also a -huge bed of -Salvias, one -sheet of gentian -blue. -‹Why cannot we grow Salvias like that?› It ran at the -foot of an overgrown, very old rose plot, the trees of -which had developed into fairy-tale luxuriance. And -opposite, across the gravelled path, which from old associations -we prefer to any other species of walk, was a -field of Snap-dragon against the high wall where the leaves -of the plum branches were reddening as they clung. Duly -mossed was this old wall, and richly lichened; overtopped -by the great trees without. These swayed to the mild Irish -wind, with long, pleasant, choiring sounds, the rooks -cawing as they circled in them. It was small wonder that -I should have felt content and at peace as I stood there—if -only my heart had not swelled with envy over those -Salvias! But one can’t be the owner of an Italian Villino -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>on a Surrey Highland and encompass the antique peace of -a centuries-old Irish home. One must be reasonable—as a -French governess of our youth used to say to us when -she began her most lengthy harangues. “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyons—de deux -choses l’une ...</span></i>”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The park was typically Irish, and -possessed -some wonderful -trees. -Amongst -others a -chestnut, -four or five -immense -branches of -which, sweeping -to the ground, -had taken root again -and started fresh trees, forming -a singular tropical-looking grove. How children would -have delighted in such a leafy palace, roofed in and pillared -of its own stateliness!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Memories of laughter pursue us at every stage of those -weeks. There was the visit to a neighbouring castle; a -genuine old castle this, but irretrievably “restored” in that -bygone period of history when Pugin reigned supreme.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>AN IRISH CHATELAINE</div> - -<p class='c008'>It was Sunday, and we found the Châtelaine—a little lady -renowned for her vivacity and charm—out in the field with -her children and her lord, energetically teaching hockey to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>the young men and women of the village. Her little boy -was running up and down after her, wringing his hands and -ejaculating, “Mamma, ye’ll be kilt! Mamma, ye’ll be -kilt!” to perfectly regardless ears.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In a whirl of energy we were rushed into tea; and, while -drawing off her loose gloves and flinging them at random -into a corner, our hostess’s tongue, which was as nimble -as her little feet, never ceased wagging:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I hope you don’t mind the smell! Oh, it’s a terrible -smell. But it’s only the dogs, ye know. We’ve been -washing them. They’re sick, poor things. Not infectious, -ye needn’t be a bit afraid. Only mange, or something. -It’s the sulphur in the soap, ye know. Come in, come -in!—Oh, I do hope we have got something fit to eat! -Katie, Katie! ‹Katie’s me eldest daughter› Katie, what -have we got? Ah, it’s horrid!—Ah, I don’t know what’s -the matter with them.—Yes, it’s a fine big room. We -were dancing here last week. You wouldn’t think it to -look at it now, would you? ’Pon my word! I was -thinking to meself that night, ‘It’s a queer world we live -in, with all those saints looking down at us with their bare -legs, and we with our bare backs!’ Oh, yes, they’re -very grand old paintings, I dare say! But there is a deal -of bare legs about them.—Will you have any more? -Ah, no, ye can’t eat it!—I don’t wonder, I can’t meself.—Will -you come into the garden? I’d like to be showing -you the garden. Where’s me gloves?—Where’s me yellow -gloves? Katie, did ye see me yellow gloves? Ah, never -mind! This way.—I’ve been making a new herbaceous -border. Ah, ’pon me word, if they’ve not gone and -locked the garden door! Sunday’s the mischief! Never -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>mind, I’ll ring the bell. Green! Green, Johnny Green, -are ye there? Is Mrs. Green there? Is Patsy there? -Where’s young Condren? Ah, they’re all out! But I’ll -not be beaten.—Maybe I’ll get it open. Will ye push, -now? I’ll turn the handle. Give a good shove. It’s -an old lock. Ah, devil a bit of it! Will ye give me your -stick.—No, thank ye. I’d rather hit it meself.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Even to her it was impossible to continue talking, while -she was, as she herself would have expressed it, “laying -on to the garden door.” Scarlet, panting, dishevelled, but -still completely fascinating, she desisted at last and handed -back the stick with a smile and gasp, and a resigned: -“Ah, I clean forgot, I see how it is now. They’re all off -to the funeral of the priest’s brother’s sister.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='ht' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span> -<a href='images/image304_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image304.jpg' alt='THE HOLLY TREE' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>THE HOLLY TREE</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XXXIX</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>From the rich plains of Meath to the barren lands of -Galway, it is a far cry and an unforgettable journey. The -country grows more and more desolate, and grand in -desolation, as one approaches the Atlantic. There was -an orange sunset that evening, over an illimitable stretch -of bog, a vision of savage, haunting beauty that went with -us into the darkness of the fast closing day like a strain of -wild music.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Ireland has always been as a living creature to her children. -She has taken, in their fanciful minds, a distinct personality. -To get such a glimpse of her as that, is to understand the -passionate ardour of fealty which she has had the power -to inspire; to understand how she has come to be -“Kathleen na Hoolihan,” and “My dark Rosaleen,” to -those poet hearts. We were speeding now to that very -corner of land from which her younger lovers have chiefly -sprung.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was pitch dark when we alighted at a town which had -once been large and prosperous and was now forlornly -sunk in decay; mute witness, like so many others, to that -act of tyranny—blunder and crime—the effects of which -England can never wipe away.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our kind friends had ordered “a carriage from the hotel” -to meet us. We had a long cross-country drive before us. -Looking doubtfully by the light of the station lamp at the -two emaciated animals that were to draw us, we wondered, -in our tired brains, if two bad horses are not worse than -one. It had begun to drizzle rain, a fine soft rain that is -like a caress in the air.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A TYPICAL JARVEY</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>If anything could beat the Dublin cab, it was that Galway -carriage. We set off lurching and rattling; and soon, the -wind catching us from over the fields, the rain began to -strike in across the open windows. To have a window -up seemed the simple remedy; but things simple elsewhere -are not so in the West of Ireland. One window was as -impossible to lift out of its socket as the oyster out of its -closed shells, for it was strapless. We fell upon the other -strap and instantly the window shot outwards at right -angles, with the evident intention of casting itself on the -road, had we not held it despairingly by its shabby appendage. -If you have ever tried to hold a window in that -position by its strap you will know how agonizing is the -process. The driver was hailed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Look here! Your window’s loose!—You’d better stop -and put it back.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The slogging trot of the horses slackened, and over his -shoulder the man of Galway demanded:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Is it the windy on the left, or the wan to the right of -ye?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The left, the left! Oh, do be quick!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The left, is it? Sure, isn’t that the wan with the sthrap?” -He jerked his reins and clucked at his horses. What -more could we want? Wasn’t that the one with the -“sthrap?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>With great difficulty, with imminent risk to the life of the -window and our own safety, we got the recalcitrant pane -back into its socket, and discovered that by dint of -judicious manipulation, and a tight hold of the “sthrap,” -it was possible to shelter the most neuralgic of the party.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A ten Irish miles’ drive along the stoniest of roads, through -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>complete darkness—for there was only a partial glimmer -from one carriage-lamp half the way, which then became -extinct altogether—it is something of an enterprise! But -it was worth it to find such a welcome at the end!</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A GALWAY DEMESNE</div> - -<p class='c008'>A “Gothic” mansion, dating from the early part of last -century, Kilcoultra is outwardly a very grand pile and -stands nobly in the midst of a rolling park, reclaimed from -the wild stony land of Galway. And inside, the first impression -is like stepping in to the glories of a missal page. The -whole house is homogeneous and entirely successful in its -mediæval colouring. On the walls are gorgeous enamel -blues, peacock greens or yet carmine crimsons appropriately -set with fleurs-de-lis, maltese cross or some other -conventional device in gold; ceiling and cornices are richly -illuminated to correspond. To find this glow of colour in -the midst of the melancholy greys and greens of the western -landscape, under the low drifting cloud-ridden skies, has a -great charm; it has a poetic Maeterlinckian atmosphere.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is something too of the delicate sadness of an old -romance in the lives of these kindly ladies who rule so -wisely over the lands left to them by their brother—the last -of his name. He was a man round whom justly centred -unusual hopes and ambitions. Now he, who had so great -a heart and so splendid a mind, lies in the ruined chapel in -the park, alone. The chapel is roofless. It is a nobly -solitary and fit resting-place for one who was nobly apart -from the petty aims of his contemporaries; who lived and -died true to his ideals; whose work still prospers in the -freed lands of his people. He gave up much for Ireland, -and Ireland gave him nothing at all in return ... except that -wonderful sleeping-place with the changing sky overhead.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>They say there is no such word in the Irish language as -gratitude, and yet—</p> - -<p class='c008'>My Kilcoultra hostess drove me round the property on -the day after my arrival, and drew the pony to the standstill -on a height that finely dominated the park and house. -When I had duly admired the view she pointed with her -whip to a little white cottage that stood a few yards away -and began a kindly tale of the old woman who had long -lived there and had but recently passed away.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“When I’d come round to see her, I used to find her, times -out of number, leaning over the wall, gazing down at Kilcoultra. -Always she’d be leaning over the wall, staring -down at the house. And one day I said to her, ‘Mary, -what in the world makes you stand there like that?’ -And she answered me, ‘I’m looking down on the roof -that shelters me lovely master!’”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“My lovely master!” A fragrant thing to have become -to the poor that live on your soil! When we reach a -sphere where things are judged by different standards and -higher measures than we can now conceive, how far will -not such a title outweigh any paltry worldly honour!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yet if the memory of its lost master dominates and haunts -all Kilcoultra house and lands, there is nothing to sadden -one in the thoughts it inspires; and our stay there is altogether -full of charm and pleasure.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Not only are the ladies a fund of anecdote, racy of the -soil; not only do they live delightfully in touch with their -peasantry, with eye and ear ever ready to catch the humour -and the pathos about them; but they are cultured, far-travelled -beings. Not much in the outer world escapes -their knowledge and shrewd apprehension.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>Home topics, however, are what appeals to their visitors -most.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>IRISH WITS</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Carrie,” the younger sister will say to the elder, “I heard -Whalen the guard, and Tim Rooney the porter, at Athenmore -Station, talking together. And Tim is thinking of -making up to a young lady, you know, and I suppose he’s -always talking about it, for Whalen was saying to him -just as I came up: ‘’Pon me word, I wish you were married, -and had your family rared on me!’ They had a -great jollification at our station the other night,” she goes -on, turning to us. “And they brewed the punch in the -station bell! Whalen’s a very humorous man,” she -proceeds. “They used to stop the express from Galway -at Athenmore when required; but there were complaints of -the delay and orders came from Dublin it wasn’t to be -done on any account. But it’s a recent regulation and -everybody doesn’t know about it. And the other day -there was terrible work, for there was Father Blake and -the Doctor both counting on it for an urgent sick call—dying, -they said the poor man was.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘You’ll have to stop the train for this once, Whalen,’ -says Father Blake.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I’ll maybe save him yet,’ says the doctor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I couldn’t, yer riverence,’ says Whalen; ‘it’s as -much as me place is worth. Don’t you be askin’ -me, doctor. It ’ud be me ruin. The company’s very -strict.’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Think of his poor soul,’ says the priest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I’ll hold ye responsible for his life,’ says the doctor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘Wirra, I can’t,’ says poor Whalen, and calls up Tim. -‘Tell his riverence, Tim,’ says he, ‘tell his riverence and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>the doctor that I can’t be disobeying orders.... And -begorra, she’s due this minute! Up into the signal-box -with you. And down with that signal, so the express can -get by,’ says he. And as Tim starts off at a great pace, -Whalen shouts after him, ‘And I’m sure I hope ye’ll get -it to work, Tim, for it’s terrible stiff it is, that same signal, -and it at danger!’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well, whether he had winked at Tim, or what, but Tim -worked and worked.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“‘I can’t get it to move,’ he says. ‘Will you come up -yourself, Mr. Whalen, sir, and have a try?’</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And, oh,” says Miss Margaret, in fits of laughter, “the -way the two of them went on in that signal-box, and the -way Whalen pumped and pulled, and at last he cries, -‘There’s no help for it, it’s stuck! And sure the company -can’t blame me, if the machinery’s out of order,’ -says he. ‘Well, there’s wan good thing, your riverence, -the thrain ’ull have to stop now, anyhow.’”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We laugh a good deal during those pleasant meals at -Kilcoultra. Not one dull moment does the house hold -for us, and we don’t want any better company than that -of the two dear ladies.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We’ve got,” Miss Caroline, the elder, explains to me -carefully, “a very careful coachman, a very steady man, -so you needn’t be the least nervous driving out with us. -He was selected, indeed, because he could be trusted. It -wouldn’t do for us unprotected women, you know,” she -says in all seriousness, “to be risking our necks with a -tipsy coachman.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two days we are driven by this paragon. The third day -there sits a stranger on the box.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>“I hope,” says Miss Carrie apologetically, “that you -don’t mind his being out of livery.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The fact is, Regan had an accident last night,” explains -Miss Margaret. “He fell into the old gravel pit going -back home and cut his head open, and——”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It was my fault entirely,” interrupts Miss Caroline in -distressed accents. “I had to send him in to Galway -town, and to tell him to wait and bring back Captain -Blake. And that meant loitering an hour.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Dear, dear!” Miss Margaret clacks her tongue. “That -was very unfortunate! He—such a steady man! But an -hour in Galway town...!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“It’s only what might have been expected,” Miss Caroline -concludes. “I blame myself entirely.—I generally,” she -adds, turning to me, “avoid leaving him any time in the -town, you know.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>A STEADY MAN</div> - -<p class='c008'>And the best of it is that Regan remains in their minds -“the steady man.” How impossible it is for the stranger -to understand Ireland and Ireland’s ways! How much -humour must you have—and what unlimited patience! -There is nothing, of course, that so conduces to patience -as a pleasant sense of humour.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The ladies are the Providence of the district. There is a -room at the back of the great gallery filled nearly to the -ceiling with rolls of homespun made by the peasant women -in the villages. Whenever a cottage mother is in want of -money she runs up to Miss Margaret or Miss Caroline, -bringing or promising the product of her loom. A good -deal of money is advanced; a good deal paid in this -manner, chiefly out of the ladies’ generous pockets.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Of course, poor things, you must know the way to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>take them,” says Miss Caroline in her Irish way. “One -of them will come up and declare they’ll all be ‘lost -entirely, ruined out and out’ for the want of five pounds. -‘Are you sure you couldn’t do with thirty shillings, -now?’ I say to them. ‘Oh, Miss Caroline’—it will be -then—‘as thrue as I’m a living woman, I couldn’t do with -less than two pound ten!’ ... I get at the truth that -way,” she adds.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is Miss Margaret who undertakes the sale of goods -which have already cost Kilcoultra so dear, and no one -can say that she shows a commercial spirit.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Let me see now,” she will say, fingering the stuff—and -splendid stuff it is—with tentative finger and thumb. “I -think we paid three-and-tenpence a yard for this, or maybe -it was four shillings, but”—with a delighted smile—“I’ll let -you have it for one-and-six, if you’re sure—really sure—you -want it.”</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XL</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>THE COLOUR OF THE WEST</div> -<p class='c008'>The country all about Kilcoultra is typically wild and -melancholy. The fields stretch, barren and yellowing, -strewn with giant stones. Except where sombre belts of -woodland mark the great estates, there is scarcely a tree -to break the monotony; a monotony intensified by the -low, unending lines of rough grey walls that border every -road. But there -is a kind of -poetry even -in this desolation, -and a -satisfaction to all -who love the freedom -of unbounded -horizons. Then the -mountains of Clare stretch their incomparable plum and -grape colours against the sky. The colour of Ireland is a -thing scarcely realized over here, where, somehow, hues -seem washed out. “In England everything has got grey -in it,” an artist friend of ours discontentedly avers.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/image317_318.jpg' alt='landscape with tree - two pages wide' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We are taken across the county to a castle standing by a -lake, which is a place of wonder. It is a castle no older, -in its mediæval sturdiness, than the Gothic mansion we -are staying in, but quite as convincingly built. Loughcool -is a realm of beauty. At the end of the long approach -the road rises very steeply through a stern grove of pines. -All at once, as you approach the summit of this dark -woodland, the ground breaks away abruptly on the right, -and, between the pines, far, far below, lies the lake smiling, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>and on its banks what is called “the hidden garden”—a -stretch of fairy beauty. Words are poor things to describe -the vision which breaks so unexpectedly upon the -eye. Everything that gardening art can do has been -accomplished -at Loughcool. -You have terraces -and a -glory of roses -overhanging the -water even this late September; -and there are “Auratum” -Lilies rising in splendid groups on each -side of a grass walk that runs grandly into the -woods between stately trees. The lady of Loughcool -is fighting a hard fight to make Azaleas and Rhododendrons -grow in the limy soil; but it is a question whether -the struggle is worth while.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“We have given it up,” says the sensible châtelaine of -Kilcoultra.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We smiled privately. Villino Loki has at least some -points of superiority.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We made another expedition, over the border into County -Clare. A white plastered pillared house this, dating from -the terrible neo-Italian period of the end of the last century. -There dwells an eccentric gentleman, one of the chief -instigators of the Young Ireland movement; but he was -unfortunately away. We visited the house, and were -entertained by his housekeeper. This lady’s name was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>Mrs. Quinlan, and she was an old friend of our hostesses. -We think we enjoyed that afternoon as well as any of our -excursions; and certainly we laughed as much as ever.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Quinlan came creaking down in a flowing black silk, -which brought me instantly back to the Sundays of my -childhood and the genteel appearance of my mother’s maid. -We sat in the early Victorian drawing-room and had tea -and Albert biscuits, listening with unremitting amusement -to the conversation between Miss Caroline and Mrs. -Quinlan. Be it mentioned that the owner of Curriestown -has long been a widower and that the question of his remarriage -has never ceased to agitate the bosoms of his -neighbours since the event, so many years ago, which -qualified him once again for the matrimonial market.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Mrs. Quinlan stood, her perfectly unwashed hands crossed -on the last button of her black silk bodice; her faded face -all over lines, querulous, good-humoured, quizzical, under -the untidy wisps of her yellow-grey hair; and, while we -ate and drank, she flowed continuously on, stimulated by -a question here and there, or an appropriate comment.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>SPEAKING THE IRISH</div> - -<p class='c008'>“And indeed, Miss Caroline, it’s very busy I am. For -sure, didn’t the master wire there’d be twelve of them here -the day after to-morrow? It’s getting all the rooms ready -I am, and the Professor here and all. Not that he’s much -trouble, the crathur. Them’s his shoes, in the hall beyant. -I’m sorry he’s out, then, for it’s the queer-looking body he -is. He’s wearing the kilt, ye know, Miss Carrie. And -not a word out of him but Irish! Musha, I don’t know -what he’d be saying!—It’s a deal of store they do be setting -on speaking the Irish now, Miss.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here Mrs. Quinlan, seized with a paroxysm of silent laughter, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>claps one of the grimy hands over her mouth and -doubles herself in two.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“The master’s wild about it, God help him!” she proceeds -presently. “But sure, I do be tellin’ him, I’m too old to be -thinkin’ about that kind of thing at my time of life. Troth, -and it’s queer times we do be having! Isn’t the master -bringing back a black lady on us!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“A black lady?” ejaculated Miss Carrie, startled out of -her placidity. “Good gracious, Mrs. Quinlan!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Indeed, and it’s true. A rale black lady I hear she is, and -it’s in Paris he met her.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“In Paris!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>It seemed a strange place from which to bring a black lady. -We were all full of the liveliest interest.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I suppose,” says Miss Caroline, “you mean a very dark -lady, Mrs. Quinlan—a brunette?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I do not, then—rale black she is, I’m told. Out of the -Indies, or Africa, or some of them places.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Dear me!” Our hostess is much puzzled. “Is he thinking -of marrying her, Mrs. Quinlan?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“I wouldn’t put it past him. I wouldn’t put anything -past him, Miss Carrie!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>A black lady! Was this to be the end of twenty-five -years’ expectation?</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Well, now, and is he bringing her with him to-morrow -night?”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Och, maybe he is! He’s coming by the midnight train, -Miss Carrie, and the Lord knows what time in the world -they’ll be up here.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Oh, he must mean to marry her!” says Miss Carrie, -and Mrs. Quinlan laughs again exhaustedly with an undercurrent -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>of plaintiveness, and remarks once more that she -wouldn’t put it past him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We go through the house in Mrs. Quinlan’s wake. There -is something that looks like a kitchen rubber laid over one -corner of the mahogany table in the great red-papered -dining-room; and on it a crusty loaf flanks a dim glass -and a cracked plate. Mrs. Quinlan casts a phrase of explanation -as she trails us around.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“He do be looking for his bit of dinner early.” We presume -“he” to be the “crathur that gives no trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>We pass through a bewildering series of bedrooms. The -damp has been coming in very copiously at Curriestown. -Mrs. Quinlan points out the worst places in each apartment -as we go along:</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Look athere, now! Just cast your eye on that, Miss -Carrie, and sure it’s nothing to what’s behind the bed. If -ye could see the way it is at the back of that press, Miss -Carrie, you’d be hard set to believe it. Och, the house is -in a tirrible state! Me heart’s broke pulling the furniture -about, thrying to get them bad bits covered.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Some one suggests that perhaps the owner will have it -painted for the black lady. But Honoria Quinlan is still -of opinion that you couldn’t tell what he’d be at.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>On the way back we burst a tyre, not far from one of -those hamlets which are typical of the western coast. Set -in surroundings of the wildest beauty, it is practically -deserted. The four walls of the ruined chapel gaping to -the sky, and the long row of empty broken-down cottages -testify still to the ruthless policy that laid the country -<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>waste in far Cromwellian times. Perhaps there are no -more than fifteen smoking hearths left, beaten by passionate -seas, guarded by the tremendous black cliffs. Life here, it -would seem, must be hard won indeed from stony fields -and treacherous waters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Very soon, while the chauffeur worked at the wheel, a -small knot of onlookers gathers about us; children with a -tangled thatch of bleached hair, and eyes that look half-fiercely, -half-appealingly out from under it. Black eyes -they seem at first sight, set as they are with raven lashes. -It is only on examination that you find them to be richly -violet. There is an old man fantastically attired in a blanket -laced with twine down to his knees. Such a creature of -savage primitiveness he seems that one of the party is -moved to ask him humorously if he has ever driven in a -motor-car. He surveys us with his mild blue eyes that are -as innocent as the child’s beside him, and shakes his shaggy -white head.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Bedad, I have,” he then says unexpectedly. “And sure -it never touched the ground at all but an odd time between -here and Connemara.”</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>CLARE ROADS</div> - -<p class='c008'>Yet motor-cars must be very rare apparitions along these -Clare roads; for at their approach the people fling themselves -sideways into the ditches and against the walls, -when they cannot escape through a gap into the fields. -Even the dogs will flee. One poor Collie flattened himself -on a bank in a paroxysm of terror that we cannot forget. -When I remember how along the English roads my heart -is for ever in my mouth over the callous indifference of the -British cur, I realize that canine folk are very much like -human beings when all is said and done.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>The Irish of the west have curious habits and customs -which seem to link them with their forgotten eastern -ancestral race. The women will draw their garments over -their heads at the approach of a stranger, so closely that -you may not get even a glimpse of their faces. Their -husband is still “the master” to them, and they walk two -steps behind him when they go abroad. But it is the old -Catholic spirit that leads them to expect the greeting -“God save all here!” when you enter their cottage, and -“God bless the work!” when you pass them in the field.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>AN IRISH STRIKE</div> - -<p class='c008'>We hurry away, much against our will, from these attractive -scenes because of the breaking out of the railway -strike. The newspapers are all very alarming, and we are -threatened with being flung for an indefinite period upon the -hospitality of our most hospitable friends. We do not -fear for a minute that that would fail us, but we are due in -England at appointed dates, and so we bustle off, “against -the heart” as the French say.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But when you make acquaintance with a strike from an -Irish point of view, it seems one huge joke. Never did we -make a journey to the sound of so much laughter as that -day. Every station was crowded with soldiers, and all the -inhabitants mustered on the platforms to exchange sallies -with them. An eager, curious, good-humoured gathering -greets and speeds the train which is supposed to be kept -running at imminent risk of riot and peril.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A very splendid looking police-inspector came into our -carriage and had an animated conversation on the prospects -with an elderly gentleman whom he addressed as “Judge.” -Both seemed inspired with glee.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When we arrived in Dublin there was indeed a slight drawback -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>in finding no porters available for our many boxes. -But the stalwart man of the party made “no bones,” as -they would say, about shouldering them himself, and this -was accomplished amid the unstinted enthusiasm of the -“jarvies.” He was aided ‹save the mark› by the only -faithful porter, as old as Pantaloon, who quivered and -quavered behind him. A further occasion for cheers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Ah, will ye look at the gintleman! To think of the likes -of him now, being put to carry the thrunks! Isn’t it -ashamed of themselves they ought to be! Well done, -Larry, it is a grand old boy ye are! Let me get a hould -of the box, yer honour. Oh, begorra, isn’t it the stringth -of ten ye do be having....”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“And how do ye like Dublin now, Mr. Smith?” we heard a -pretty Irish girl saying to a stalwart young British soldier -on the platform.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He was grinning down at her in stolid admiration. She -herself had dove-like eyes and a dove-like cooing voice.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We think he liked Dublin very much indeed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It was the laughing face behind the mask of tragedy.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span> - <h2 class='c015'>XLI</h2> -</div> - -<div class='c005'></div> -<div class='sidenote'>THE FALL OF THE LEAF</div> -<p class='c008'>Once more has the Equinox come and -dropped into the past. Autumn—the Fall, -as our older and more -poetic term had it to -balance the image of -Spring, and as America -still prefers to call it—is -about us.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image325.jpg' alt='bird in nest' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We disagree radically -with Chateaubriand’s -estimate of the “russet -and silver days.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“A moral character” -‹thus does the Father -of <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Romantisme</span></i> meditate, -in his usual melancholy -mood, upon the season of shortening -days and long-drawing nights› -“is attached to autumnal scenes.... The leaves falling -like our years, the flowers withdrawing like our hours, -the colours of the clouds fading like our illusions, the -light waning like our intelligence, the sun growing colder -like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our -lives—everything about Autumn bears secret relations to -our destinies....”</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yes, we disagree with every one of these similes. Rather -should Autumn be considered as the happy season of the -task accomplished. The wine is pressed and stored, the -fruit is garnered.... In the garden it is the time of eager -<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>preparation against new delights, another year; of solicitude -for the treasures of beauty which are to brighten another -Spring, another Summer. The seed of the dying Annuals -has been saved; the more tender of the Perennials are -timely withdrawn into shelter, while the hardier are cosily -tucked in their own bed for the coming long winter sleep. -It is the time of the tidying down and of the confident -“good night—till next year!”</p> - -<p class='c008'>“Colder, like our affections,” indeed! What will not -love of rhetoric perpetrate?—and Christmastide drawing -on apace!</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>The Master of the House has an old-fashioned weakness—what -may be called a “Dickensy” weakness—for things -Christmassy. And his family have all childlike tastes and -are quite ready to minister to his picturesque fancy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have a Christmas tree—a Spruce sapling, selected -yearly for sacrifice in the territory called the Wilderness. -It must be said that the wide library, with the capacious -hearth and the beamed ceiling, lends a suitable scenery to -this homelike ‹but, we fear, obsolescent› entertainment. -The tree is lit up on the first night for ourselves; on the -second for the household; and a third time for the children. -For the true pleasures of Yule would be incomplete without -a “foregathering-and-rejoicing-together” ‹as only a -tough German compound word could express it› of all -grades of age and station. The children, in this case, are -those of the Catechism class and of our <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">employés</span></i>—which -pompous term must be understood to refer to the gardener, -the chauffeur, the under-gardener, and the “occasional -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>help.” This last has five of them—so it mounts up -satisfactorily.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THINGS CHRISTMASSY</div> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image330.jpg' alt='bird bath hanging from tree' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The beloved “furry ones” are not forgotten. Loki, who -is always in a state of violent excitement on Christmas -Tree nights, has a toy animal to make acquaintance with, -tease, and finally worry. Some one ‹it must have been -Juvenal› suggested tying up nice clean bones in red ribbons; -but out of regard for Grandma’s -carpet, the succulent -thought has never been “materialized.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Master of the House, and -Juvenal, are also full of solicitude -for the feathery things in -Winter. The bird-baths are -carefully thawed—it seems, by -the way, to be in the coldest -days of the year that they appear -to prefer to bathe; sand -baths are generally found sufficient -in the Summer, one -wonders why. In cold weather -generally, cocoanuts filled with -fat are disposed in various -parts of the garden, around -which tits and finches of every -shade dispute noisily all day. -But on Christmas day the terraces, the balustrades -and steps round the house are further -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>disfigured with such an abundance of crumbs and other -tempting morsels, that, even with the help of all the black -birds from neighbouring copses, they cannot come even -with the whole of the feast.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>We give each other enchanting presents. The lovely -little carved-wood Joan of Arc, on a bracket in Grandpa’s -library; the Madonna of Cluny “prayer-stick” in one -corner of the chimney-piece; the Medici copy of Filippino -Lippi’s wonderful angel in the National Gallery, in the -grey and yellow bedroom; the cut-glass goblets painted -with purple plums and red cherries and blue grapes in the -drawing-room—all these were this year’s Christmas gifts, -cunningly chosen, we think, and a constant delight to -our eyes.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>Loki’s Grandma, after the fashion of a lady in a recent -celebrated lawsuit, likes to choose her own presents. But -she is not so indelicate as to demand money and buy it -herself—No, she drops an absent hint, as Christmastide -draws near. If this is not satisfactory, she abandons -diplomacy for an engaging frankness.... But she is always -overwhelmed with surprise and delight when “the very -thing she wanted” duly appears about the Tree. The -Master of the Villino, on his side, has had all the pleasure -of purchasing; and, being of a guileless nature, is often -quite persuaded that the choice was his own.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In fact we all become like children again at Christmas; and -this, after all, cannot be displeasing to the Christ Child. It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>is a time of hectic preparation, of pleasurable brain-racking -over the suitability of gifts; of endless tying up of parcels -for foreign and home dispatch. We decorate the Villino -with round compact Holly-wreaths, which Adam makes -with rare raste and adroitness. Never was such a year as -the last for Hollies; and some of the trees were still scarlet -with them in the late Spring.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>HUES OF WINTER</div> - -<p class='c008'>As for Juvenal, he shows a recrudescence of genius in the -devising of table decoration with unthought-of evergreens; -with rich-toned leaves in the sear and the brown and -purpling hues of Winter, brightened with an astonishing -variety of haws, hips, and berries.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the little Chapel a crib is built up in a stone manger -brought from Rome. Therein lies the Italian <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Bambino</span></i>, -purchased two generations ago by a dear one who has -now gone from us. It is the quaintest little wax figure -imaginable, with its painted red curls and one wax foot -uplifted in the act of kicking.—The story goes that the -original much venerated image in a certain Roman church, -the object of yearly pilgrimages, was purloined, or for -some reason moved to another Church, to the woe and -indignation of the faithful of the district. But on the first -Christmas night after this translation, a loud knocking was -heard at the door of the original Church, and the small -figure was discovered, kicking with all its might for re-admittance. -Captured and carried in with devotion and -joy, it was re-established with much pomp in its old -quarters, but ever after remained with a little kicking leg in -the air!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our Crib, surrounded with Roman Hyacinths and White -Narcissus and Primulas, is fragrant and poetic; but we do -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>not attempt to show anything more than the one image. -Want of space prevents it. Our ambition, however, finds -larger scope in the village Chapel. There Juvenal has built -a very noble stable, thatched with heather; and all the -figures of those first scenes of the Greatest Story in the -World will take their place this year.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Last year the tragedy happened that the <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Joseph and -Our Lady; the Ox and the Ass; the Kings and Shepherds, -which had been ordered in secret to surprise every one, -remained on the high seas detained by December gales, -until too late.—But our coming Noel will be the richer for -the enforced postponement of the Holy Picture.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>At the last Yuletide the Mistress of Villino was unable, -after a long year’s illness, to join the family party at -Midnight Mass in the village below the hill. ‹Midnight -Mass, be it noted in parenthesis, has an extraordinary -charm for the household and indeed for the neighbourhood. -And, when all is said and done, it certainly is as picturesque -and touching a ceremony as ever men of goodwill are -happy to join in. It seems to bring one in direct touch -with the simplicity of the shepherds of those far-off hills.› -But as the excluded <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">padrona</span></i> was lying quietly in bed -waiting for the sounds of departure, she was touched and -charmed to hear the strains of a carol rising softly from -the terrace beneath her windows:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c022'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>See amid the winter’s snow,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Born for us on earth below,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>See, the tender Lamb appears,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Promised from eternal years!</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l c022'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span><i>Hail, thou ever blessed morn!</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Hail, Redemption’s happy dawn!</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Sing, through all Jerusalem,</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Christ is born in Bethlehem!</i></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>Lo, within a manger lies</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>He Who built the starry skies;</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>He, Who throned in heights sublime</i></div> - <div class='line'><i>Sits amid the Cherubim!</i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>All the household had gathered there to give her this -pleasure and make her feel that she was not altogether shut -out from the Christmas privileges! Wrapped in their -thick cloaks, with Juvenal swinging a lantern, they stood -in a long row and chanted to her. It was one of those -small sweetnesses in life that leave a lasting memory.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>There is a picture in a garden paper of Japanese single -Asters growing wild in grass: the seeds had been mixed -by mistake, but the result, according to the illustration, -was singularly attractive. When we saw it we said that -the experiment should be made at Villino Loki!—Many -indeed are the experiments, many the improvements to be -made within our small acres.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But what a difference lies between conception and execution. -Of late ‹for an instance› we had revolved round the agreeable -thought of a Pool and a wet place generally, for Iris -Kæmpheri, Spiræa and other moisture-loving darlings. We -had indeed intended something altogether choice in the -shape of a large sunken basin with a piping faun on the -edge of it. Oh, something quite delightful.... But an inconvenient -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>attack of “conscience”—in other words the heavy -memory of garden bills, already incurred over the Autumn -lists, rose up and barred the way. We felt something like -Scrooge when the ghost with the bony finger ‹horrible vision -of our youth› pointed to the tomb. Only, on our tablet -what was written was the ghastly total of our bulbous -liabilities! Like Scrooge, we covered our faces with our hands. -No wonder the faun took fright and leaped into next year.</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE TURN OF THE YEAR</div> - -<p class='c008'>Well, now, another year has come; and it is passing, -taking us upon yet another round of garden pleasures, of -old hopes and ambitions renewed—with many new delights -and new disappointments, as of old; with also fresh -openings on the bright horizon. -New interests too. Of -these, some of the smaller -are not the least engrossing. -To Villino Loki this year, for example, -has come a new Pekinese. It is -a Princess, very small, very sleek; chestnut-hued, -with a face like a pansy. She -has got a little jutting under-jaw, an extremely flat nose; -and, in moments of excitement, her eyes display an amazing -amount of white rim. But they are becoming very beautiful -eyes for all that. They were the brightest of “boot-buttons” -when she came first.</p> - -<div class='figright id006'> -<img src='images/image335.jpg' alt='dog' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Loki was, naturally, very angry. He did his best to kill -her; which was ungrateful, as she was really procured, at -great cost and difficulty, to be his Imperial Bride! She, on -her side, liked him awfully, and told him so. On her first -motor drive down here from London, as she waggled and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>smirked at him from an opposite lap, he sat on his Ma-Ma’s -knee and pulled a series of grimaces in return, the like of -which you can only find painted on Chinese screens or cast -in Chinese bronze.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>THE NEW PEKY</div> - -<p class='c008'>The ways of the new Peky are an endless source of amusement -and joy. We tried to call her Mimosa; but, as usual -with the youngest of the family, she remains “Baby.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>She has a coat the colour of a ripe chestnut, which will, we -think, almost rival Loki’s in luxuriance. Her eyes have -the same proportion to her face as those of a Dicky Doyle -fairy. She has the oddest tastes, loving among many other -unexpected things the flavour of tobacco. If she can get -hold of a pipe or a cigarette she will sit and suck it, sniffing -with enchantment, till one would swear she was smoking.</p> - -<p class='c008'>All the dogs, of course, have their coffee after lunch and -dinner in orthodox fashion, so there is nothing astounding -in her having taken to it with gusto from the very first—but, -for her, the stronger the better!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Like most Pekies, she begs and “prays” without ever -having had to be taught the art. She has furthermore a -talent quite her own—that of elaborately waltzing in front -of you when she wants anything very particularly.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One of the dearest peculiarities of the breed is, as we have -said, the rapture of their welcome on the return of any -member of the family. The Master of the House is sensitive -to this attention, and is quite hurt if he misses Loki’s -clamorous greeting. The other day “the Baby” was sent -into the Hall to meet him on his home-coming. No sooner -did he appear than she solemnly began her dance and preceded -him as he advanced, conscientiously executing her -finest <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pas de fascination</span></i>. This consists of leaping into the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>air, turning round upon herself, and coming down on to her -front paws. Little Eastern as she is, she knew no better -way of expressing her feelings towards “the Master.”</p> - -<p class='c008'>From what far ancestress, bred in the secret sinister -splendours of a Manchu Palace, did she inherit this -accomplishment?</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div id='win' class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span> -<a href='images/image327_lg.jpg'><img src='images/image327.jpg' alt='WINTER' class='ig001' /></a> -<div class='ic002'> -<p>WINTER</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c015'>XLII</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>It is the dream of the owners of Villino Loki to build on -another wing; but, so far, funds do not run to this. The -Villino is sadly short of guest chambers; that is because -one room has been for ever allotted to the little Oratory.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This little Chapel is a haven of peace. One’s thoughts -turn to it when one has the misfortune to be away from -home. Over the altar there hangs a large, wonderfully -beautiful crucifix. The figure, white majolica, was bought -in a villainous den of a curiosity shop on the Tiber. We -remember how it shone out of the darkness at us, and we -felt it <em>had</em> to be ours! It is now affixed to a large gilt -carved wood cross made for us by the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">doratore</span></i> in <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Piazza -Nicosia</span></i>.... Excellent ruffian! The cross has one arm -much longer than the other, though no one would know it -who did not measure; and it has the inimitable stamp of -the artistic hand bound by no slavish measure or hideous -time-saving mechanism.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Chapel is chiefly white and gold. Two large Donatello -angels, warm ivory-coloured, from the <i><span lang="it" xml:lang="it">Manifattura di Signa</span></i>, -carry the red Sanctuary lamps. One is certainly the real -Donatello—the other, we fear, a poor foundling. But they -both look very well.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is a great window over the moor.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The few small statues are, we think, attractive; chiefly -decorated with bronzy golds and deep colours. There is -<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Louis, King of France, specially carved by a Bavarian -artist; a slender noble figure with a face of grave asceticism, -holding up the Crown of Thorns. And there is a sternly -warlike <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Michael, all golden, resting on his sword. And -a <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Anthony ‹a real discovery this› lifting a pale countenance -that seems on fire with ardour towards the Divine -Infant who stands on his book—<abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Anthony is “in glory”; -his habit golden over the brown. <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> George, a fine splash -of colour, charges the dragon over the fireplace. It is a -most satisfying dragon with red jaws open and a green -claw tearing at the lance that has conquered him. <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> -George’s iron-grey horse, with flowing crimson trappings, -starts aside and rolls a distraught eye—as well he might. It -is all in plaster and in rather deep relief. Two tall golden -wood-carved Roman church candlesticks flank it on either -side, fitted with electric light.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span> -<img src='images/image339.jpg' alt='garden view' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>We have placed square Compton pots with Italian wreaths, -filled with palms and flowering plants, one on each side of -the altar step.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At night, when there is no light in the Oratory, except -that of the Sanctuary lamps, the shadows of the palms -look like angels’ wings, crossing and re-crossing....</p> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<p class='c008'>But, just as to a Garden there is no end—no end to its -wants or to our desires for it; to its phases, its transmutation -surprises; to our joys and disappointments in it—so -there is no end to a Garden and Country House -gossip. We might go on for ever—like Tennyson’s Brook! -And meanwhile the year is passing on, in its stately -pomp.</p> - -<div class='sidenote'>SUMMER ONCE MORE ... AND AFTER</div> - -<p class='c008'>Full Summer is once more upon the Garden. The Delphiniums -are rampant. We are in the centre of a heat -wave, and our dry hill-side pants in the sun. At the fall -of eve our souls rejoice in the sound of the refreshing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>showers when the watering begins; for one thirsts sympathetically -with the cherished borders....</p> - -<p class='c008'>The moor is deepening to purple. The trees wear the -deep green that precedes the turn. Life is rushing by with -us so quickly that it seems but the “blink of an eye,” as -the Germans say, since we were peering for the first bulb -shoot.... In a little while the Ramblers and Wichurianas -will be one blaze of glory; and in a little while again the -Autumn winds will be shouting up the valley and the -Bracken turning gold over the rolling hills; and again in a -little while again it will be the Winter and the snow and -we shall be watching for the Spring.</p> - -<p class='c008'>And it will be all even as before and yet all quite different. -And so year by year.... And one day our garden will -bloom for other eyes than ours.</p> - -<p class='c008'><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nunc tibi—mox aliis</span></i>, the Book-Lover’s motto has it. How -true also of the beloved Garden!... Another “eye-blink.”</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c002' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span> -<img src='images/image342.jpg' alt='path down garden' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<hr class='c023' /> -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c008'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. </span><i>This was written long before anyone here dreamed of the near possibility -of another German war.</i></p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Sentimental Garden, by -Agnes Sweetman Castle and Egerton Castle - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR SENTIMENTAL GARDEN *** - -***** This file should be named 51779-h.htm or 51779-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/7/7/51779/ - -Produced by Clarity, ellinora and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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