260 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



who has come from a distance, with a note from a 

 man I know well, applying for work at the quarry; 

 but there will be nothing suitable for him there for 

 several months, for he's rather above the average. 

 He would have done very well for you, as, though 

 he speaks little English, I make out that his father 

 was an under- forester in the fatherland. As it is, 

 I'm taking him to the farm with me for the night and 

 will try to think of how I may help him on in the 

 morning." 



Instantly both Maria and I began to tell of Larry's 

 defection in different keys, the young man meanwhile 

 keeping up a deferential and most astonishing bowing 

 and smiling. 



Having secured the seal of Bart's approval, Meyer 

 has been engaged, and after to-day we must accustom 

 our ears to a change from Larry's rich brogue to the 

 juicy explosiveness of German; and worse yet, I must 

 rack my brains for the mostly forgotten dialect of the 

 schoolroom language that is learned with such pain 

 and so quickly forgotten. 



I'm wondering very much about The Man's sudden 

 return to Opal Farm and if it will interfere with 

 Maria Maxwell's daily care of Amos Opie ; for, as it 

 turns out, he is really ill, the chill resulting from Larry's 



