CHAPTER XV. 



THE FIRST JOINT BOTANICAL STUDIES OF THE FRIENDS. 



JOHN DUNCAN called early at Whitehouse the following 

 evening, urged by an inexplicable expectancy. The time 

 that night was chiefly spent in the garden and the green- 

 houses, according to John's wish, in some general talk 

 about plants, and in those personal questions and mutual 

 confidences that accompany a first introduction, when the 

 one feels after the other, by which are laid the foundations 

 of friendship. After parting, Charles was not yet very 

 greatly impressed with the weaver, and he still thought him 

 " a mortal queer man." John's shyness was so great ; he 

 shut himself from all strangers beneath such an impenetrable 

 armour of natural reserve, which the sorrows he had to hide 

 had painfully increased, that this was not to be wondered 

 at. He was a modest mountain daisy, whose earlier growth 

 had been stunted by sunless gloom, barren soil, and the 

 bitter waters of grief, and which only lifted its drooping 

 head under the genial warmth of trustful affection and 

 fullest confidence. His backward reticence, indistinct 

 utterance, and introverted, shamefaced look before strangers 

 also concealed the latent power and the strong intellect 

 that dwelt in his little body ; so that, at parting that night, 

 Charles had small hope of his doing much in science. 



