20 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 



shield is now seen to stand perpendicularly, the stem being bent 

 in a sharp curve. In the midst of his surprise the flowers one 

 by one now seem to steal into view, peering out here and there 

 behind the leaves, and he will discern a grimace there that he 

 never noted before. That bright bouquet upon his mantel will 

 henceforth wear a new expression for him and a fresh identity. 

 He will find himself exchanging winks thitherward now and then, 

 and hover about the room among his friends in the proud con- 

 sciousness of a certain preferment not vouchsafed to common 

 mortals. 



The effect of such a bank of nasturtium leaves as the writer 

 recently observed is irresistibly queer. So instinct with mischiev- 

 ous consciousness did it seem that he found himself entering into 

 conversation at once, and laughed outright in the darkness. It 

 has been supposed that this vertical position of the leaf was as- 

 sumed to avoid the collection of dew, but this is obviously an 

 error. There is no disposition in the nasturtium to avoid moist- 

 ure, as would be apparent to any one who has watched the leaves 

 during rain, catching and coddling the great dancing drop at its 

 hollowed centre, and loath to let it fall. 



Our midnight gardener has still further surprises in store for 

 him among his plantations. Following the alluring fragrance of 

 his melilot, he turns the rays of his lantern among its branches, 

 and finds them full of nocturnal capers. The single leaflet of 

 the melilot is threefold, like a clover, to which it is closely akin. 

 At night these three leaflets twist edge uppermost on their stems, 

 with the faces of the outer pair turned inward, while the end 

 leaflet folds its face flat to one side or the other, to the cheek of 

 its chosen chum for the night. And there they are, a dozy com- 

 pany in truth, yet not without a subtle suggestion that it may all 

 be a subterfuge for the moment to cover some mischief or other. 



And here is another interesting specimen close by, a member 

 of that same somniferous tribe the blue lupine the "sad lu- 

 pine" of Virgil (tristis lupinus). Just why Virgil should have 

 attributed sadness to the lupine I believe has not been satisfac- 

 torily decided, although many learned pens and much print* 



ters 



