CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
I LOOK ROUND.
My ejaculation made Mr Solomon look completely changed, for, as Iglanced back at him, I could see that there was a twinkle in his eyesand a little dent or two about the corners of his lips, but as he saw melooking wonderingly at him he became cold and stern of aspect again.
"Well," he said shortly, "will that do?"
"Do, sir!" I cried excitedly; "is this your garden?"
"Master's," he said, shortly.
"Your master's garden?"
"And your master's, too," he said. "Well, will it do?"
"Do!" I cried; "it's lovely. I never saw such a beautiful garden in mylife. What a lawn! what paths! what flowers!"
"What a lot o' work, eh? What a lot to do?"
"Yes," I said; "but what a place!"
After that cold cheerless yard I seemed to have stepped into a perfectparadise of flowers and ornamental evergreens. A lawn like green velvetled up to a vast, closely-clipped yew hedge, and down to a glisteningpool, full of great broad lily leaves, and with the silver cups floatingon the golden surface, for the water reflected the tints in the skies.Here and there were grey-looking statues in nooks among the evergreens,and the great beauty of all to me was that there was no regularity aboutthe place; it was all up and down, and fresh beauties struck the eye atevery glance. Paths wandered here and there, great clumps of ornamentaltrees hid other clumps, and patches of soft velvet turf were everywhereshowing up beds in which were masses of flowers of every hue. Therewere cedars, too, that seemed to be laying their great broad boughs uponthe grass in utter weariness--they were so heavy and thick; slopes thatwere masses of rhododendrons, and when I had feasted my eyes for a timeon one part Mr Solomon led me on in his serious way to another, wherefresh points of beauty struck the eye.
"It's lovely," I cried. "Oh! Mr Solomon, what a garden!"
"Mr Brownsmith, not Mr Solomon," he said rather gruffly; and Iapologised and remembered; but I must go on calling him Mr Solomon todistinguish him from my older friend.
"I never saw such a place," I added; "and it's kept so well."
"Tidyish--pretty tidy," he said coldly. "Not enough hands. Only nineand me--and you--but we do our best."
"Why, it's perfection!" I cried.
"No it ain't," he said gruffly. "Too much glass. Takes a deal o' time.I shall make you a glass boy mostly."
"Make me--a what, sir?"
"Glass boy. You'll see."
I said "Oh," and began to understand.
"Was it like this when you came?" I said.
I was very glad I said it, for Mr Solomon's mouth twitched, then hiseyes closed, and there were pleasant wrinkles all over his face, whilehe shook himself all over, and made a sound, or series of sounds, as ifhe were trying to bray like a donkey. I thought he was at first, but itwas his way of laughing, and he pulled himself up short directly andlooked quite severe as he smoothed the wrinkles out of his face as if itwere a bed, and he had been using a rake.
"Not a bit," he said. "Twenty years ago. Bit of garden to the housewith the big trees and cedars. All the rest fields and a greatup-and-down gravel pit."
"And you made it like this?" I cried with animation.
He nodded.
"Like it?" he asked.
"Like it!" I cried. "Oh!"
"Come along," he said. "This is the ornamental. Useful along here."
I followed him down a curving path, and at a turn he gave his head ajerk over his right shoulder.
"House!" he said.
I looked in the indicated direction, and could see the very handsomelong, low, white house, with a broad green verandah in the front, and agreat range of conservatories at one end, whose glass glistened in theevening light. The house stood on a kind of terrace, and lawn, andpatches of flowers and shrubs sloped away from it down into quite adell.
"Old gravel, pits," said Mr Solomon, noticing the way I gazed about theplace. "Come along."
He walked up to a great thick yew hedge with an archway of deep green init, and as soon as we were through he said shortly:
"Useful."
I stared with wonder, for though I was now in a fruit and vegetablegarden it was wonderfully different to Old Brownsmith's, for here, inaddition to exquisite neatness, there was some attempt at ornamentation.As soon as we had passed under the green arch we were on a great grasswalk, beautifully soft and velvety, with here and there stone seats, anda group of stone figures at the farther end. Right and left wereabundance of old-fashioned flowers, but in addition there were neatlytrained and trimmed fruit-trees by the hundred, not allowed to grow highlike ours, but tied down as espaliers, and full of the promise of fruit.
Away right and left I could see great red brick walls covered with morefruit-trees spread out like fans, or with one big stem going straight upand the branches trained right and left in straight lines.
Everywhere the garden was a scene of abundance: great asparagus beds,trim and well-kept rows of peas laden with pods, scarlet-runners runningat a tremendous rate up sticks; and lower down, quite an orchard of bigpyramid pear and apple trees.
"Like it?" said Mr Solomon, watching me narrowly.
"I can't tell you how much, sir!" I cried excitedly. "I never thoughtto see such a garden as this."
"Ain't half seen it yet," he replied. "Come and see the glass."
He led me towards where I could see ranges of glass houses, lookingwhite and shining amongst the trees, and as we went on he pointed todifferent plots of vegetables and other objects of interest.
"Pump and well," he said. "Deep. 'Nother at the bottom. Dry insummer; plenty in the pools. Frames and pits yonder. Nobody at homebut the young gents. Wish they weren't," he added in a growl. "Limbs,both of them. Like to know where you are to live?" he said.
"Yes, sir. Is it at the house?"
"No. Yonder."
He pointed to a low cottage covered with a large wisteria, and builtalmost in the middle of the great fruit and vegetable garden, whilebetween it and the great yew hedge lay the range of glass houses.
"You can find your way?"
"Yes, sir," I said, feeling damped again by his cold manner. "Are yougoing?"
"Yes, now."
"Shall I fetch my box, sir?"
"No; I told Tom to take it to the cottage. You would like to look roundand see where you'll work? Don't want to begin to-night, eh?"
"Yes, sir, I'm ready, if you like," I said.
"Humph!" he ejaculated. "Well, perhaps we'll go and look at the firesby and by. You're my apprentice now, you know."
"Am I, sir?"
"Yes; didn't Brother Ezra tell you?"
I shook my head.
"Don't matter. Come to learn glass. There's the houses; go and lookround. I'll call you when supper's ready."
I don't know whether I felt in good spirits or bad; but soon ceased tothink of everything but what I was seeing, as, being about to become aglass boy, I entered one of the great hothouses belonging to the largerange of glass buildings.
A warm sweet-scented puff of air saluted me as I raised the copper latchof the door, and found myself in a great red-tiled vinery, with longcanes trained from the rich soil at the roots straight up to the veryridge, while, with wonderful regularity, large bunches like invertedcones of great black grapes hung suspended from the tied-in twigs.There were rows of black iron pipes along the sides from which rose asoft heat, and the effect of this was visible in the rich juicy-lookingberries covered with a pearly bloom, while from succulent shoot, leaf,and tendril rose the delicious scent that had saluted me as soon as Ientered the place.
From this glass palace of a house, as it seemed to me, I went down intoa far hotter place, where the walls were whitewashed and the glass roofvery low. There was a peculiar odour of tan here, and as I closed thedoor after me the atmosphere felt hot and steamy.
But the sight that greeted my eyes made me forget all other sensations,for there all along the c
entre were what seemed to be beautiful,luxuriant aloes; and as I thought of the old story that they bloomedonly once in a hundred years, I began to wonder how long it was sinceone of these spiky-leaved plants had blossomed, and then I criedexcitedly:
"Pine-apples!"
True enough they were, for I had entered a large pinery where fruitswere ripening and others coming on in the most beautiful manner, whilewhat struck me most was the perfection and neatness of all the place.
Then I found myself in another grape-house where the vines bore ovalwhite grapes, with a label to tell that they were Muscats. Then I wenton into a long low house full of figs--small dumpy fig-trees in pots,with a peculiar odour rising from them through the hot moist air.
Again I was in a long low place something like the pinery, and here Iwas amongst melons--large netted-skinned melons of all sizes, some beingquite huge, and apparently ready to cut.
I could have stayed in these various houses for hours, but I was anxiousto see all I could, and I passed on over the red-tiled floor to a doorwhich opened at once into the largest and most spacious house I hadseen.
Here the air was comparatively cool, and there was quite a soft breezefrom the open windows as I walked along between little trees that formeda complete grove, with cross paths and side walks, and every long leaflooking dark and clear and healthy.
I could not keep back an exclamation of delight as I stopped in one ofthe paths of this beautiful little grove; for all about me the treeswere laden with fruit in a way that set me thinking of the gardentraversed by Aladdin when in search of the wonderful lamp.
I was in no magic cave, it is true, but I was in a sort of crystalpalace of great extent, with here and there beautiful creepers runningalong rods up the sides and across close to the roof, while my treeswere not laden with what looked like bits of coloured glass, but theloveliest of fruit, some smooth and of rich, deep, fiery crimson; othersyellowish or with russet gold on their smooth skins, while others againwere larger and covered with a fine down, upon which lay a rich softcarmine flush.
I had seen peaches and nectarines growing before, trained up againstwalls; but here they were studded about beautiful little unsupportedtrees, and their numbers and the novelty of the sight were to medelightful.
I began to understand now why Old Brownsmith had arranged with hisbrother for me to come; and, full of visions of the future and of how Iwas going to learn how to grow fruit in this perfection, I stopped,gazing here and there at the ripe and ripening peaches, that looked sobeautiful that I thought it would be a sin for them to be picked.
In fact, I had been so long amongst fruit that, though I liked it, Ifound so much pleasure in its production that I rarely thought of eatingany, and though this sounds a strange thing for a boy to say, it is nonethe less perfectly true. In fact, as a rule, gardeners rather grudgethemselves a taste of their own delicacies.
I must have been in this house a full quarter of an hour, and had onlyseen one end, and I had turned into a cross walk of red tiles looking toright and left, when, just beyond the stem of one peach-tree whose fruitwas ripening and had ripened fast, I saw just as it had fallen one greatjuicy peach with a bruise on its side, and a crack through which itsdelicious essence was escaping. Pale creamy was the downy skin, with abloom of softest crimson on the side beyond the bruise and crack, andmaking a soft hissing noise as I drew in my breath--a noise that I meantto express, "Oh, what a pity!"--I stooped down and reached over to pickup the damaged fruit, and to lay it upon one of the open shelves where Ihad seen a couple more already placed.
I heard no step, had seen no one in the place, but just as I leaned overto get the fruit there was a swishing sound as of something parting theair with great swiftness, and I uttered a cry of pain, for I felt asensation as if a sharp knife had suddenly fallen upon my back, and thatknife was red hot, and, after it had divided it, had seared the flesh.
I had taken the peach in my hand when the pain made me involuntarilycrush it before it fell from my fingers upon the rich earth; and,grinding my teeth with rage and agony, I started round to face whoeverit was that had struck me so cruel a blow.