COMMUTER'S WIFE 43 



Stiff ground on top, he keep out both heat and 

 cold." 



A similar request to rake a mass of chickweed off a 

 bed, instead of digging it in, brought the rejoinder: 



" It is time wasted. The winter, he will kill it," 

 while every one knows that in most places this weed 

 blooms at intervals in all months but perhaps two, 

 and flourishes mightily. 



In despair, I went to father and asked him who had 

 given the man directions the eighteen months of his 

 stay, where he came from, who recommended him, 

 and whether he understood that I was to be obeyed ? 



Father appeared rather embarrassed for a man 

 with surgical nerve, to retain which, perhaps, he has 

 always been an avoider of domestic flurries. Then 

 the end of his nose twitched as it does when he is 

 cornered and wants to laugh, which he finally did as 

 he said : 



" Chris was employed by a florist over in town, cut 

 his hand, got blood poisoning, and turned up at the 

 hospital. He seemed intelligent and a great reader. 

 Why, really, Barbara, the first morning he worked 

 here in spring, he stopped me when he was weeding 

 radishes, and asked me if I liked Ibsen, saying he did 

 not, 'because he takes the hope from man.' I'm 

 sure, Bab, that showed discernment. And then, he 



