218 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



Amos Opie it was divided several years ago and 

 established helter-skelter bachelor quarters at Opal 

 Farm. Bart has told him, over and over again, how wel- 

 come he is to stay here, under any and all conditions, 

 while he works in the vicinity, but he says that he needs 

 a lot of room for his traps, muddy boots, etc., while Opie, 

 a curious Jack-at-all-trades, gives him his breakfast. 

 I'm wondering if The Man felt that he was intruding 

 upon Maria by staying here, or if she has any Mrs. 

 Grundy ideas and was humpy to him, or even suggested 

 that he would better move up the road. She is quite 

 capable of it ! 



However, he seems glad enough to drop in to dinner 

 of an evening now, and the two are so delightfully cordial 

 and unembarrassed in their talk, neither yielding a jot 

 to the other, in the resolute spinster and bachelor fashion, 

 that I must conclude that his going was probably a 

 natural happening. 



This evening, while Maria and I were waiting together 

 for the men to finish toying with their coffee cups and 

 match-boxes and emerge refreshed from the delightful 

 indolence of the after-dinner smoke, the odour of the 

 flowers intensified both by dampness and the wood- 

 smoke was very manifest. 



"How do you like your employment?" asked Maria. 



