140 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



would not have been the case had the gaiety been 

 forced. One could not help laughing along with 

 them, and he would have been very dull and ill- 

 iiatured who tried. There was wit, too. There 

 generally is with persons w T ho still see both sides 

 of life, even when one of them is not so obvious as 

 it might be. 



In bad weather, when the brown shades looked 

 black, and there was no relief anywhere, they 

 didn't require to look beyond the garden wall ; and 

 like wise folk, who refuse to meet depression 

 half-way, probably they did not try. All of the 

 soaked and blackened earth they could command 

 from the windows, were the tops of the hills. 



Within the enclosure, the scene was as if I had 

 been suddenly transported south again. It must 

 have been only so much the brighter on the 

 duller day, and thus helped to preserve the 

 balance. Garden vegetables grew to the usual 

 height, and were bordered by bright annuals. 



In a snug corner, shut in between the gable 

 and the wall, where the blast would pass over 

 without sending down so much air as would 

 disturb the dust on its glass roof, nestled a little 

 conservatory. It was just such a spot as one 

 would choose out for telling a world-forgetting 



