Robin Hood's Barn 



self from its brown study and displayed its learn- 

 ing gayly. If it had not acquired real fluency, 

 it was "spelling it with flowers." 



No wonder that I felt pride in its teaching. 

 No wonder that I pushed and overworked it, 

 gave it no summer holiday for rest. Peonies, 

 sweet-william, phlox. Those in simple forms it 

 had already mastered. But there were subtleties, 

 rare shades of meaning which they could not ex- 

 press. Fringed pinks would add both edge and 

 spice to our remarks, and iris spears a point. 

 Campanulas would give a purity of diction. 

 Spirea and gypsophila would veil oin" meaning 

 by elusiveness and shy half -hints. And why not 

 violas for roguish chuckle and primroses for run- 

 ning comment or convenient small talk? It had 

 not occurred to me that the place might grow too 

 voluble, that I might provoke a clamorous am- 

 bition not easy to suppress. 



Proper gardens, so I soon admonished, didn't 

 talk so loud. They showed that they were care- 

 fully brought up. I had seen them, always on 

 their good behavior, unobtrusive and controlled. 

 They had silences of leaves between their bursts 



[72] 



