GARDENS AND GOSSIPS 



in the silence of the garden's presence, and carry a mes- 

 sage quite different from what they bear when upon 

 every-day errands. If he murmurs that he has waited 

 an eternity for this special moment of time, the phrase 

 conveys a meaning not apparently inherent in the sim- 

 ple words themselves ; he might address precisely the 

 same remark to his office boy, for instance, and there 

 would be no stirring of divinity in the circumambient 

 air. The Chinese exemplify this peculiar quality in 

 speech more clearly than the rest of the world, for they 

 can say the same thing and give it any of half a dozen 

 or half a hundred interpretations, according to intona- 

 tion and inflection. Every lover is Chinese enough to 

 be able to talk thus to his beloved in a language of his 

 own, no matter how ordinary the words he uses. 



So it is that the gossip of a pair of lovers will not 

 bear repeating, even should it be overheard. It is the 

 most wonderful of all the intimate talks that belong 

 within garden walls, but it is practically unintelligible 

 to every one else, as it is also apt to be entirely confined 

 to the two who are talking, having little or no relation 

 to any other human being or event, even when it wan- 

 ders into the future and predicts the most exquisite 

 miracles. However, though we cannot understand 

 these whispers and the soft laughter that proceeds 

 from the leafy arbor when lovers occupy the old bench, 

 we ought none the less to be content that such agree- 

 able sounds do occasionally proceed from it, without 



ill 



