Robin Hood's Barn 



the light was properly adjusted. But when at 

 length he unveiled his vision of my garden, I 

 beheld, not the circling pathways and trim hedges 

 I had boasted; not the bird-bath and arbor, my 

 sole garden ornaments ; no, not even flowers. He 

 had done the onion patch, bald pates nodding in 

 the simhght; and behind a shelving rock loomed 

 two dead scraggly trees ! 



Nor is it safe to let him have his way with 

 country rambles. I must act as guide and take 

 the lead. Even then I dare not skirt a barn, 

 but make for open pastures and go far afield. 

 For let a weathervane but tip the hiUtop and he 

 makes straight towards it, as though homing to 

 his stall. The attraction — ^if you will have it — 

 comes from his knowledge that somewhere below 

 a murky pit lies darkling, rich in blacks. I have 

 told him firmly that it is trite, that it has been 

 done a thousand times before. Of no avail. Let 

 him once find it and it seizes hold of his imagina- 

 tion. Talk as I will, he does not even hear. Look 

 at that oblong window festooned with silver cob- 

 webs. Look at that silver light that filters 

 through it to the muck below. How it throws 



[26] 



