With these he made his way toward a
little house almost in the middle of the garden, which was his fortress,
his palace, his studio, or his workshop, as the case might be.

It was a low building with a far-outreaching roof, and under the shade
of this roof, outside of the little building, John liked to do his
rainy-day and very-hot-weather work. From the cool interior came a smell
of dried plants and herbs and bulbs and potted earth.

When John reached this garden-house, the young lady was already there.
She was not tall; her face was very white, but not pale; and her light
hair fluffed itself all about her head, under her wide hat. She wore
gold spectacles which greatly enhanced the effect of her large blue
eyes. John thought she was the prettiest flower which had ever showed
itself in that garden.

"Good morning, John," she said. "I came here to ask you about plants
suitable for goldfishes in a vase. My fishes do not seem to be satisfied
with the knowledge that the plants through which they swim were put
there to purify the water; they are all the time trying to eat them.
Now it strikes me that there ought to be some plants which would be
purifiers and yet good for the poor things to eat."

John put down his bundle of pea-sticks by the side of a small stool.
"Won't you sit down, miss?" pointing to a garden-bench near by, "and I
will see what I can do for you." Then he seated himself upon the stool,
took out his knife, and picked up a pea-stick.

"The best thing for me to do," he said, "is to look over a book I have
which will tell me just the kind of water plants which your goldfish
ought to have. I will do that this evening, and then I will see to it
that you shall have those plants, whatever they may be. I do not pretend
to be much of a water gardener myself, but it's easy for me to find out
what other people know." John now began to trim some of the lower twigs
from a pea-stick.

"Talking about water gardens, miss," he said, "I wish you could have
seen some of the beautiful ones that I have come across!--more beautiful
and lovely than anything on the top of the earth; you may be sure of
that. I was reminded of them the moment you spoke to me about your
goldfish and their plants."

"Where were those gardens?" asked the young lady; "and what were they
like?"

"They were all on the bottom of the sea, in the tropics," said John
Gayther, "where the water is so clear that with a little help you can
see everyth