THE SIX OF SPADES. 63 



gardeners, upon a magnanimous but unhappy experi- 

 ment to beautify the beds with bulbs. There were to 

 be Maltese crosses in silver, and golden coronets upon 

 cushions of purple. The idea was gorgeous, but the 

 result was this I could scarcely shave for laughing ! 

 Oh, the gaps and the blanks, the hiatus ralde deflendi ! 

 Puritanical mice had defaced the crosses, and appro- 

 priated the Crown Jewels. 



Surely it is better for mind and body to feed regu- 

 larly upon wholesome food, upon the meats and fruits 

 of the earth in their season, than to have three 

 months of feasting, and nine of fast. At the Grange 

 there is always something close at hand, not exiled to 

 the kitchen-garden, to please you. 



" The daughters of the year 

 One after one through that still garden pass, 

 Each garlanded with her peculiar flower." 



From the cheerful parlour, with its oaken panels 

 and large square stone-mullioned window, I see in 

 winter the laurestinus, the bright red berries of the 

 holly, the pale-yellow aconite, the white Christmas 

 rose. There are violets under that window, waiting 

 for a sunny gleam, and the room itself is redolent 

 now with the delicate perfume of the chimonanthus 

 fragrans. Soon they will have in abundance the 

 snowdrop (our lady's flower) the crocus, purple, and 

 gold, and white (the latter irreverently termed by 

 children "poached eggs," and very like them), 

 hepaticas, the sweet mezereon, and all the first flowers 

 of spring. You " would remove that ribes, because it 

 must look shabby in the winter ! " But don't you see 



