DUTCH EXACTNESS 



then he speaks. '' It is very lonely. There are 

 people who would die for you, and people who 

 do die for you, and millions who pray for you. 

 And you live all the time in the light. Yes, it is 

 very lonely. There are enemies everywhere, and 

 if you have friends they say you have favourites. 

 I often wish, as Napoleon wished, that I was a 

 simple gardener." 



After that he is silent, and one hears only the 

 bees murmuring to the flowers. And I watch a 

 bumble-bee slip into a tulip cup and make a noise 

 as if he were very angry. 



The tulips look like the turbans and dresses or 

 the Kabyle women or the dancers of the Ouled 

 Nail people in Bousaada, and the hyacinths are 

 like the curled periwigs of the courtiers of 

 William of Orange. 



Then we rise by common consent and walk 

 down the path, and we do not speak because the 

 peace of gardens is on us. 



We see trim bowling greens through archways 

 in the hedges that are sometimes of yew and 

 sometimes of holly ; and there are little walled 

 courts with sundials on white stands, and fruit 

 trees on the walls. Everything is very trim and 



5 



