THE LURE OF THE GARDEN 



inquiring too curiously as to their exact value ; for 

 at the worst they are apt to be as brief as they are 

 strange. 



After the lovers' transient occupancy is over, the seat 

 will not stand empty long. Husband and wife come to 

 it to discuss the manifold issues of their life, from the 

 transplanting of a pansy bed to the building of a new 

 home or the future of a child. Sitting thus, sipping 

 their tea in the midst of the peaceful hush following so 

 pleasantly upon the day's labors and the jarring contact 

 of butcher-boys and wearisome callers, disputes with 

 the "boss" and futile struggles against predatory mil- 

 lionaires, the two chat together, knitting up care's rav- 

 eled sleave with serenity renewed. 



" Mary says she 's going to leave," remarks Madam, 

 alluding to the hardly attained cook. Elsewhere the 

 statement might be tremulous with tragedy ; but spoken 

 comfortably from the garden chair, with its convenient 

 arm upon which to set the tea-cup, the announcement is 

 touched with a sense of humor. "What are mere 

 cooks," it seems to intimate, " beside the comedy of 

 their amazing tendency toward perpetual motion?" 



As for him, he tells her that the office force is to be 

 increased at last, and informs her that Bennet has a 

 head like a pin, and could n't be trusted to turn a cor- 

 ner; but the remark carries no sense of bitterness. 

 Whatever subject is discussed, only round, pleasant 

 words are spoken; and though the gossiping of these 



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