2 LETTERS TO MARCO i 



see the sun rise almost every day lose none 

 of their charms on closer intimacy, and in my 

 garden I find delight and occupation for, I 

 am afraid to say, many beyond what are 

 usually called spare hours. This summer, 

 which was a dry and pleasant one, my paint- 

 ing has been mostly carried on out of doors. 

 I had a small tent put up on the lawn, in 

 which I arranged two models and a lay figure 

 with the accessories, from which I worked. 

 The picture represents three girls making gar- 

 lands for some festivity, in the toned light of 

 a tent with a background of bright sunlight. 

 Poynter and Hodgson, the only two of my 

 artist friends who have seen the picture, 

 seemed very pleased with it, and, if I do not 

 spoil it in the finishing, I think it will do 

 fairly well. The fine weather has continued 

 into the autumn as yet, and in proof I may 

 mention that on Michaelmas day I counted 

 no less than seventy-one different flowers in 

 bloom, of course not all in perfection, but I 

 picked most assuredly seventy-one different 



