SUMMER'S LEASE 
6 3 
delicate, the gardener’s heart will leap up when he 
beholds her, his tenderest cares will be spent upon her 
fostering, and no fare will prove too costly for her 
consumption. 
There is less of yellow in these borders now, and 
more, far more of blue. Mainly blue are the lupins’ 
tall steeples; there is much blue of the iris, while many 
of the columbines wear blue with such a grace as 
almost to persuade me that it is truly the sweetest 
colour that’s worn. But, even so, blue tempers rather 
than predominates the pretty medley. Some of these 
same hybrid aquilegias are tricked out very fancifully 
with divers other hues, as, for instance, with a delight¬ 
fully delicate combination of pale lilac and lemon; but 
there is no end to their variations, and all are comely. 
“ Granny Bonnets ” the cottage folk call them, and 
there is a something quaintly pleasing in the title. 
The sweet-williams are flourishing finely ; their prim, 
delicate little faces look up from the tufted trusses that 
enshrine them with an air of soft reserve that is almost 
conventual in its staid serenity. They are damascened 
and diapered with all manner of dainty dyes of crimson, 
carmine, and rose; some are austere with sober choco¬ 
late trimmings; but the prettiest, to my mind, are 
those of pure white brocaded velvet, for all the world 
like those downy white moths that flit under the leaves 
in summer twilights. Fragrant stretches of pinks, 
white and rose, and laced, are flowering harmoniously 
near, and I am convinced that they prove sympathetic 
neighbours to the sweet-williams, while I am to the lull 
as sure that each of these modest groups casts side-long 
