OCTOBER 223 



delicate withdrawal of familiar objects behind 

 the thin veil woven from the smoke of countless 

 fires of fallen leaves. Tenderly, but with 

 certainty, we are told that the time for rest 

 is drawing near, and, as in the last dear 

 moments that go before all partings, we 

 linger among the yet familiar friends, seeing 

 beauties unguessed in richer days ; giving 

 praise begrudged aforetime, and trying with 

 futile pains to make up for past indifference 

 or blindness by a too brief arduous love. 



In sweetpea time, how little we cared for the 

 nasturtium ! We recognised their usefulness 

 and good will. We bade them hide a fence, 

 and it vanished behind a wall of green. We 

 told them to cover an unsightly heap of waste, 

 and it was done. We asked them to take 

 charge of the window boxes, and they over- 

 flowed with obliging leaves and bloom ; but a 

 careless nod was as much as they got for 

 their pains. But now! How glorious we 

 find their play of colour, and the arch postur- 

 ings ordered by their pliant stems. True 

 coquettes, we cannot be sure to-day what 

 forms or colours they will assume to-morrow, 

 nor can we master their pretty secrets of 



