134 A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



was simply impossible ; that it was one of the house- 

 maids and the under-whip ; that Lady Alice was in 

 bed with the toothache (oh, Phyllis, Phyllis !), and 

 that the captain was in Windsor barracks. And when 

 I suggested that as I was there, with a brace of eyes in 

 good working order, and they were not, I must re- 

 spectfully take leave to differ ; then they said, that if 

 I had seen anything, which they did not for a moment 

 believe, I ought to be ashamed of myself spying into 

 people's houses (half a mile off) at tbat time of night, 

 intruding into private walks, &c. I could only plead 

 that up to that hour I had not been aware that after 

 nightfall the duke's park was solemnly given up to 

 the young nobility, paired off, and dying for love. 



Finally, after reiterating for the (as nearly as I can 

 guess) forty-second time, that I had seen nothing, 

 they implored, they insisted, that I should never 

 reveal to living creature that which I had seen ; and 

 I gave them at last my promise to keep a secret, 

 which nothing upon earth could have tempted me to 

 tell. 



***** 



The marriage morning came. On the day pre- 

 ceding I had decorated the church as sorrowfully 

 almost as though it had been for her funeral, and at 

 sunrise I had arranged a bouquet (it was composed of 

 stephanotis, pancratium, gardenia, and white rose- 

 buds) which I had mourned over as if for her coffin. 

 "And so," I sighed to myself, "the leaf went, and 

 the lover came ; and yet there was neither help nor 

 hope." 



The events of the day, as we ascertained afterwards, 



