A PERSIAN GARDEN 73 



each side of the long diverging avenue, an ave- 

 nue that ends by the quaint gardener's cottage 

 nearly hidden in a raiment of ivy which springs 

 up at the very foot of great borders of Gera- 

 niums, flaming in their season. 



Few other than its owner's intimates, and 

 the children of the village, have had the good 

 fortune to stroll within these gates. The 

 vigilant 'Arrington, a massive gardener with 

 a mighty manner, turns deaf ear to all others, 

 despite repeated orders to the contrary; for 

 it must not be imagined that the cottage har- 

 bors a disagreeable individual who desires no 

 communion with strangers. Not at aU. It 

 is inhabited by a scholarly gentleman beloved 

 throughout the country because of his generous 

 philanthropy. But the weight of his years de- 

 mands a certain quiet, a fact unsuspected by 

 him, but which 'Arrington sedulously makes 

 certain. 



The leisure of this gentleman's vie de celi- 

 bataire enables him to follow unhindered the 

 ardor of his own enthusiasm for garden-mak- 

 ing. Others have been content with one gar- 

 den, or with several, but he has many, and fitly 

 might the goddess Flora and the goddess 



