224 A TOUR ROUND MY GARDEN. 



1 have one with a mouthpiece twice as large as 'that. Thy 

 garden is pretty, Stephen: it is not large, but it is pretty. 

 Well, well, well, and so thou amusest thyself thus, eh? in 

 cultivating flowers in this way, eh ? Poor fellow ! I have an 

 uncle, now, just in the same way ; he has a handsome garden, 

 water, woods ; I must bring Master Phanor into order before 

 we go there : my uncle would not laugh if he played the same 

 game in' his garden that he played on his arrival here last 

 night." 



Whilst saying this, he plucked a rose and put it into his 

 button-hole. 



" What are you about there ?" 



"What am I about? why, I have gathered a middling 

 sort of rose to wear in my button-hole." 



" A middling rose ! it is the last that tree will bear this 

 year, the most beautiful of white roses, Madame Hardy. I 

 hoped to see that for five or six days longer j I shall not see 

 another for a year to come." 



" Why, thou art worse than my uncle ! Don't gather thy 

 roses! Well, I won't touch another. What dost thou do 

 here ? How can we amuse ourselves ?" 



" We do not amuse ourselves here." 



" Ah ! well, never mind ; I can read, I can walk. I sup- 

 pose thou dost not keep thy horse ? " 



" No." 



" That's a pity." 



Such is my present melancholy condition, my dear friend — 

 when it will be over I cannot tell. I seek every justifiable 

 means of getting rid of this intruder, but he does not even 

 tell me when he means to go. 



Two shots in the garden caused me to hasten to see what is 

 going on. 



