spray of the jasmine vine that festooned a window, as we see it
in England but never here, and carefully cut off a cluster of its white
stars by aid of a pair of the long, slender flower-picking scissors that
hung from her belt by a ribbon, twisted the stems together, and placed
them in Martin's buttonhole almost without touching it.

"Having done this, she seemed to forget us and drifted away among the
flowers, touching some gently as she passed, snipping a dead leaf here
and arranging a misplaced branch there.

"We left almost immediately, but have been there many times since, and
though as a whole the garden is too heavily fragrant, I thought that it
might suggest possibilities to you."

As Aunt Lavinia paused we were turning from the main road into the
narrow but beautifully kept lane upon which the Herb Farm, as it was
still called, was located, by one of those strange freaks that sometimes
induces people to build in a strangely inaccessible spot, though quite
near civilization. I know that you must have come upon many such places
in your wanderings.

Of course my curiosity was piqued, and I felt, besides, as if I was
about to step into the page of some strange psychological romance, nor
was I disappointed.

The first thing that I saw when we entered was a great strip of
heliotrope that rivalled my own, and opposite it an equal mass of
silvery lavender crowned by its own flowers, of the colour that we so
frequently use as a term, but seldom correctly. There were no flagged or
gravel walks, but closely shorn grass paths, the width of a lawn-mower,
that followed the outline of the borders and made grateful footing.

Bounding the heliotrope and lavender on one side was a large bed of what
I at first thought were Margaret carnations, of every colour combination
known to the flower, but a closer view showed that while those in the
centre were Margarets, those of the wide border were of a heavier
quality both in build of plant, texture of leaf, and flower, which was
like a compact greenhouse carnation, the edges of the petals being very
smooth and round, while in addition to many rich, solid colours there
were flowers of white-and-yellow ground, edged and striped and flaked
with colour, and the fragrance delicious and reminiscent of the clove
pinks of May.

Mrs. Puffin, the companion, could tell us little about them except that
the seed from which they were raised came from England and that, as
she put it, they w