ON GETTING THERE 23 



likely to find surprising most varieties that came 

 to his notice among the village people whom he 

 individually knew. His uncle, who was the pastor 

 of the village, was of something the same sort, 

 though, so the nephew said, he did not know half 

 the bad things which were done there. The which 

 was easy to believe when one met the pastor, a 

 white-haired old man, whose hopeful eyes saw 

 always the best in human nature, and whose 

 unconscious saintship inevitably drew out the best, 

 so that the most unrighteous, from shame or from 

 sympathy, made efforts to be righteous in his 

 company. 



In the gardens, which were reached at the end 

 of this leisurely voyage, ranunculi were in bloom 

 — a flower not often to be met in quantity in 

 England, where it is not popular. Why, is not 

 clear, certainly one might have thought it old- 

 fashioned enough to have returned to favour with 

 straight-backed chairs and china dogs and cottage 

 ornaments. The more admired anemones were 

 nearly over that day, only a few crimson and 

 purple flowers remained, so wide open that their 

 black centres were all revealed. They still stood 

 stiff and straight on their stalks, not bending to 

 every breeze, like the ranunculi, which were a 



