2OO IDLEHURST : 



colour in the compositions of Nature. The garden 

 has need of all this opulence and depth of tone, for 

 in this high summer display there is no touch of 

 sentiment and imagination, such as the wind-dashed 

 daffodils of March, or the shining wet leaves of April 

 possess. To-day foliage is dry and harsh ; curves are 

 set and stiff in woody fibre ; hopes and fears are 

 mostly done with ; and until Autumn brings in its 

 vein of moralities and sense of farewell, we must take 

 our pleasure in splendour of colour and lusty life 

 the body, not the soul of the garden. 



Thoughts in this manner, latterly mixed with hint 

 of crackling rashers borne across the herb-scents, 

 brought me to eight o'clock ; and I went indoors to 

 find my nephew Bob, arrived yesterday on a short 

 visit during the holidays, deeply engaged with an old 

 cricket-bag I had turned out for his occupation. His 

 delight in the spiffing batting-gloves and a much- 

 pegged Cobbett, tempered by the critical faculty 

 proper to thirteen and a House-Cap, only yielded 

 to the buttered eggs and marmalade. We have a 

 busy morning before us, I tell him ; and he certainly 

 prepares himself against the chances of a late lunch. 



For several days past there has been the usual 

 immigration into the village in view of the August 

 Fair. Flocks of lambs and yearling sheep, droves of 



