64 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



mind staying outside under a horse-chestnut tree, and 

 instead of listening as I should, I looked sidewise out 

 of the window at my double in the shade and won- 

 dered if, after all, the stay-at-home vacation was 

 not a wild scheme. There being a Puritan streak in 

 me, via my father, I sometimes question the right of 

 what I wish to do simply because I like to do it. 



" At dinner I was so grumpy, answering in mono- 

 syllables, that sensitive Bart looked anxious, and as 

 if he thought I was disappointed at the possible turn 

 of affairs, but The Man from Everywhere laughed, say- 

 ing, 'Let her alone; she is not through incubating the 

 plan, and you know the best of setting hens merely 

 cluck and growl when disturbed.' 



" Immediately after dinner Bart and The Man went 

 for a walk up the river valley, and I, going to the living 

 room, seated myself by the window, where I could 

 watch the Infant playing on the gravel outside, it 

 being the afternoon out of both the general maid 

 Anastasia and Barney the man, between whom I 

 suspect matrimonial intentions. 



"The singing of the birds, the hum of bees in the 

 opening lilacs, and the garden fragrance blending with 

 the Infant's prattle, as she babbled to her dolls, floated 

 through the open door and made me drowsy, and I 



