‘Oh, thank you,’ said Charlotte, ‘but mayn’t we have a bit in the garden of peace?’
‘Who learned you to call it that?’ the gardener asked, looking at her strangely.
‘It’s the right name, isn’t it?’ Charlotte asked with sudden anxiety.
‘It’s the right name right enough,’ he admitted.
‘We want a bit that won’t be disturbed for seven weeks,’ Charlotte explained, and he looked at her more strangely than ever.
‘Sure you’ve got the right seed to sow?’
Charlotte opened her hand and he stooped and looked at it. Then he stood up and saluted like a soldier.
‘Why——’ said Charlotte, ‘you—what do you mean?’
‘Nothing!’ he said, straightening his back; ‘only I worked here all my days, and my father afore me, and his father afore him, and so on back. You can see our names on the stones in the churchyard, same as you see Master’s people’s names on the tombs inside of the church. I’ll find a corner for you, my dear, and no one shan’t disturb the seed, once you’ve set it. You know how it’s done? No chatter, and which way to look?’