122 A GARDEN OF PLEASURE 



and fallen ; and like the quickly passing 

 sweetness of them, many a friend has come 

 and gone. The dry, green paths hedged 

 in with beech or rose are haunted in this 

 parching weather, not alone by waving 

 shadows on the grass, but by dear 

 memories of a face or a voice that was 

 here, and is not. The garden, through 

 all its prime, was remarkable for its blue. 

 Cloudy pillars of delphinium rose every- 

 where on the borders, showing well especi- 

 ally among the cryptomerias of the 

 Fantaisie. There were many shades of 

 blue, from pale sky to ultramarine. The 

 dark blue double kind is a desirable plant, 

 for its quality of lasting longer than its 

 single sisters. Within the walls there 

 grew a lovely group of white lily with pink 

 roses against a misty background of blue 

 larkspur, while on the other side the walk 

 reigned in brilliant confusion, Himalayan 

 poppies of every red and rosy tint. People 

 say that these poppies, which we call 

 Himalayan, or annual poppies, are common. 

 Yet nobody seems to grow them ! They 

 have been from May till now to ourselves 



