Finally she bethought herself of the garden. It was a nice, mellow piece of ground, which had been thoroughly dug over and manured in the fall, and was, therefore, in a fine state to begin operations upon in the spring.
John had set out thrifty young cherry and pear trees, and had planted two or three grapevines and a row of gooseberry and currant bushes, taking care to procure the best sorts of each; but he knew nothing about flowers.
Letty was exceedingly fond of flowers, and always had great success in their cultivation. At Mrs. Trescott's, the geraniums and fuchsias in the kitchen-windows quite outshone those in the greenhouse; and her flower-borders were always a mass of colour, from tulip-time till the frosts came in the fall.
John fully intended to have a nice garden; but his ideas extended no farther than to fruits and vegetables. He was, however, quite willing that Letty should follow her own devices in the matter of flowers, and laid out her verbena-beds with great neatness.
Mrs. De Witt saw them at work together in the evenings,—which were now growing long enough to allow them to be out after tea,—and rejoiced that she had found a neighbour after her own heart. One morning she came over, trowel in hand, and a basket of plants on her arm.
"Well, here you are at work! I'm so glad to see you take to gardening! There's nothing more healthy or more diverting, if one has troubles, whether they are little or great. I tell Mr. De Witt,—
"'Mr. De Witt,' says I, 'I dig half my worries into them flower-beds.'
"And he says, 'I guess you dig 'em all in, Ruth; for I don't see any of 'em lying loose,' says he.
"But, la bless you! that's just his way of talking. He thinks I'm the best woman in the world; but it's only because he is so good himself. Well, I see you working out here; and so I've brought you some roots of snap-dragons and carnations and pansies,—real fine sorts, I tell you, from imported seeds. The carnations are all good, I know, because they blossomed last year; but the snap-dragons are new."
Letty gratefully accepted the present. "I am sure I am very much obliged to you," said she; "but I am afraid you are too generous."