rubens and i "drop in" at the rectory—gardens and gardeners—my father comes for me

one fine morning, when my father was busy with the farm-bailiff, and mrs. bundle was "sorting" some clothes, i took my best hat from the wardrobe, deliberately, and with some difficulty put on a clean frill, fastened my boots, and calling rubens after me, set forth from the hall unnoticed by any of the family.

rubens jumped up at me in an inquiring fashion as we went along. he could not imagine where we were going. i knew quite well. i was making for the rectory, the road to which i knew. i had often thought i should like to go and see mr. andrewes, and mrs. bundle's remarks to the housekeeper had suggested to me the idea of calling upon him. we were near neighbours, though we did not live in a town. i resolved to "drop in" at the rectory.

it was a lovely morning, and rubens and i quite enjoyed our walk. he became so much excited that it was with difficulty that i withheld him from chasing the ducks on the pond in mr. andrewes' farm-yard, as we went through it. (the parson had a little farm attached to his rectory.) then i with difficulty unlatched the heavy gate leading into the drive, and fastened it again with the[103] scrupulous care of a country squire's son. the grounds were exquisitely kept. mr. andrewes was a first-rate gardener and a fair farmer. that neatness, without which the brightest flowers will not "show themselves" (as gardeners say), did full justice to every luxuriant shrub, and set off the pale, delicately-beautiful border of snowdrops and crocuses which edged the road, and the clumps of daffodil, polyanthus, and primrose flowers dotted hither and thither. i was not surprised to hear the chorus of birds above my head, for it was one of the parson's "oddities" that he would have no birds shot on his premises.

when i came into the flower-garden, there was more exquisite neatness, and more bright spring flowers, thinly scattered in comparison with summer blossoms, but shining brightly against the rich dark mould. and on the turf were lying gardening-tools, and busy among the tools and flower-beds were two men—the rev. reginald andrewes and his gardener. it took me several seconds to distinguish master from man. they were both in straw hats and shirt sleeves, but i recognised the parson by his trousers. his hat was the older of the two, and not by any means "canonical." having found him, i went up to the bed where he was busy, and sat down on the grass near him, without speaking. (i was accustomed to respect my father's "busy" moments, and yet to be with him.) rubens followed my example, and sat down in silence also. he had smelt the parson before, and wagged his tail faintly as he saw him. but he reserved his opinion of the gardener, and seemed rather disposed to growl when he touched the wheelbarrow.

"bless me!" said mr. andrewes, who was[104] startled, as he well might be, by my appearance. "why, my dear boy, how are you?"

"very well, thank you," said i, getting up and offering my hand; "i've dropped in."

"dear me!" said mr. andrewes; "i mean, i'm very glad to see you! won't you come in? you mustn't sit on the grass."

"what a pretty garden you have!" i said, as we walked slowly towards the house. mr. andrewes turned round.

"well, pretty well. it amuses me, you know," he said, with the mock humility of a real horticulturist. and he looked round his garden with an unmistakable glance of pride and affection. "have you a garden, reginald?" he inquired.

"yes," i said. "at least, i've two beds and a border. the beds are shaped like an r and a d. but i haven't touched them since i was ill. the gardener tidied them up when i was at oakford, and i think he has dug up all my plants. at least i couldn't find the bachelor's button, nor the london pride, nor the pansies, and i saw the lavender-bush on the rubbish-heap."

"so they do—so they always do!" said the parson, excitedly. "the only way is to keep in the garden with them, and let nothing go into the wheelbarrow but what you see.—jones! you may go to your dinner. i watch jones like a dragon, but he sweeps up a tap-root now and then, all the same; and yet he's better than most of them. some flowers are especially apt to take leave of one's beds and borders," mr. andrewes went on. he was talking to himself rather than to me by this time. "fraxinellas, double-grey primroses, ay, and the pink and white ones too. and hepaticas, red, blue, and white."[105]

"what are hepaticas like?" i asked.

"let me show you," said mr. andrewes, crossing the garden. "look here! there are the pretty little things. i have seen them growing wild in canada—single ones, that is. the leaves are of a dull green, and when they fade, the whole plant is hardly to be distinguished from mother earth—at least, not by a gardener's eye. if you will promise me not to let the gardener meddle with them, unless you are there to look after him, i will give you plants for your beds and borders, my boy."

"oh, thank you," i said; "i like gardening very much. i should like to garden like you. i've got a spade, and a hoe, and a fork, and i had a rake, but it's lost. but i know papa will give me another; and i can tidy my own beds, so the gardener need not touch them; and if there was a wheelbarrow small enough for me to wheel, i could take my weeds away myself, you know."

and i chattered on about my garden, for, like other children, i was apt to "take up" things very warmly, in imitation of other people; and mr. andrewes had already fired my imagination with dreams of a little garden in perfect order and beauty, and tended by my own hands alone; and as i talked of my garden, the parson talked of his, and so we wandered from border to border, finding each other very good company, rubens walking demurely at our heels. a great many of mr. andrewes' remarks, though i am sure they were very instructive, were beyond my power of understanding; but as he closed each lecture on the various flowers by a promise of a root, a cutting, a sucker, a seedling, or a bulb, as the case might be, i was an attentive and well-satisfied listener. i[106] much admired some daffodils, and mr. andrewes at once began to pick a bunch of them for me.

"isn't it a pity to pick them?" i said, politely.

"my dear regie," said mr. andrewes, "if ever you see anybody with a good garden of flowers who grudges picking them for his friends, you may be quite sure he has not learnt half of what his flowers can teach him. flowers are generous enough. the more you take from them the more they give. and yet i have seen people with beds glowing with geraniums, and trees laden with roses, who grudged to pluck them, not knowing that they would bloom all the better and more luxuriantly for being culled."

"do daffodils flower better when the flowers are picked off?" i asked, having my full share of the childish propensity for asking awkward and candid questions. mr. andrewes laughed.

"well, no. i must confess they are not quite like geraniums in this respect. and spring flowers are so few and so precious, one may be excused for not quite cutting them like summer flowers. but it wouldn't do only to be generous when it costs one nothing. eh, regie?"

i laughed and said "no," which was what i was expected to say, and thanked the parson for the daffodils. he pulled out his watch.

"my dear boy, it's luncheon time. will you come in and have something to eat with me?"

i hesitated; mrs. bundle had not spoken of any meal in connection with the ceremony of "dropping in," but, on the other hand, i should certainly like to lunch at the rectory, i thought. and, indeed, i was hungry.

"oh, you must come," said mr. andrewes, leading me away without waiting for an answer. "i'm[107] sure you must be hungry, and the dog too. what's his name, eh?"

"rubens," said i.

"does he paint?" mr. andrewes inquired. but as i knew nothing of painter peter paul rubens or his works, i was only puzzled, and said he knew a good many tricks which i had taught him.

"we'll see if he can beg for chicken-bones," said the parson, hospitably; and indoors we went. mr. andrewes said grace, though not in the words to which i was accustomed, and we sat down together, rubens lying by my chair. i endeavoured to conduct myself with the strictest propriety, and i believe succeeded, except for the trifling mischance of spilling some bread-sauce on to my jacket. mr. andrewes saw this, however, and wanted to fasten a table-napkin round me, to which i objected.

"too like a pinafore, eh?" said he, with a sly laugh.

"i don't think i ought to wear pinafores now," i said, in a grave and injured tone. "leo damer doesn't, and he's not much older than i am. but i think," i added, candidly, "he rather does as he likes, because he's got nobody to look after him."

the parson laughed, and then gave a heavy sigh.

"i wish my mother could come back, and tie a pinafore round my neck!" he exclaimed, abruptly. then i believe he suddenly remembered that i had lost my mother and was vexed with himself for his hasty speech. i saw nothing inconsiderate in the remark, however, and only said,

"is your mother dead?"

"yes, my boy. many years ago," said mr. andrewes.[108]

"did your father marry anybody else?" i inquired.

"my father died before my mother."

"dear me," said i; "how very sad! leo's father and mother died together. they were drowned in his father's yacht." i was in the middle of a history of my friend leo, and of my visit to london, when a bell pealed loudly through the house.

"somebody's in a hurry," said mr. andrewes; "that's the front-door bell."

in three minutes the dining-room door was opened, and the servant announced "mr. dacre." it would be untrue to say that i did not feel a little guilty when my father walked into the room. and yet i had not really thought there was "any harm" in my expedition. i think i was chiefly annoyed by the ignominious end of it. it was trying, after "dropping in" and "taking luncheon" like a grown-up gentleman, to be fetched home as a lost child.

"what could make you run away like this, regie?" said my poor bewildered parent. "mrs. bundle is nearly mad with fright. it was very naughty of you. what were you thinking of?"

"i thought i would drop in," i explained. and in the pause resulting from my father's astonishment at my absurd and old-fashioned demeanour, i proceeded with nurse bundle's definition as well as i could recollect it in my confusion, and speak it for impending tears. "so i came, and rubens came, and mr. andrewes was in the garden, and we sat down, to change the weather, and pass time like, and mr. andrewes was in the garden, and he gave me some flowers, and mr. andrewes asked me in, and i came in, and he gave me some[109] luncheon and he asked rubens to have some bones, and—"

"'change the weather and pass time like,'" muttered my father. "servants' language! oh, dear!"

in my vexation with things in general, and with the strong feeling within me that i was in the wrong, i seized upon the first grievance that occurred to me as an excuse for fretfulness, and once more quoted nurse bundle.

"it's so very quiet at home," i whimpered, with tears in my eyes, which had really no sort of connection with the dulness of the hall, or with anything whatever but offended pride and vexation on my part.

ah! how many a stab one gives in childhood to one's parents' tenderest feelings! i did not mean to be ungrateful, and i had no measure of the pain my father felt at this hint of the insufficiency of all he did for my comfort and pleasure at home. mr. andrewes knew better, and said, hastily,

"just the love of novelty, mr. dacre. we have been children ourselves."

my father sighed, and sitting down, drew me towards him with one hand, stroking rubens with the other, in acknowledgment of his greeting and wagging tail. then i saw that he was hurt. indeed, i fancied tears were in his eyes as he said,

"so poor papa and home are too dull—too quiet, eh, regie? and yet papa does all he can for his boy."

my fit of ill-temper was gone in a moment, and i flung my arms round my father's neck—rubens taking flying leaps to join in the embrace, after a fashion common with dogs, and decidedly dangerous to eyes, nose, and ears. and as i kissed my father,[110] and was kissed by rubens, i gave a candid account of my expedition. "no, dear papa. it wasn't that. only nurse said country places were quiet, and in towns people dropped in, and passed time, and changed the weather, and if she was in oakford she would drop in and see her sister. and so i said it would be very nice. and so i thought this morning that rubens and i would drop in and see mr. andrewes. and so we did; and we didn't tell because we wanted to come alone, for fun."

with this explanation the fullest harmony was restored; and my father sat down whilst mr. andrewes and i finished our luncheon and rubens had his. i gave an account of the garden in terms glowing enough to satisfy the pride of the warmest horticulturist, and my father promised a new rake, and drank a glass of sherry to the success of my "gardening without a gardener."

but as we were going away i overheard him saying to mr. andrewes,

"all the same, a boy can't be with a nurse for ever. she has every good quality, except good english. and he is not a baby now. one forgets how time passes. i must see about a tutor."