CHAPTER VI.
CLEARING THE CREEK.
Albert Dodge, the new gardener passed ten days while he was recruiting his health, in visiting gardens and green houses, trying to improve his taste and gain all the information in his power. He had agreed with Mr. Curtis to return to Oxford as soon as the family were settled at Woodlawn and remain as long as the weather would allow out-door work. When the frost forbade further improvements, he was to leave and spend three months in the employ of Hantz, the celebrated florist.
But one morning the very last of October, as Mr. Curtis was sauntering along near the lake, absorbed in a project he had just formed, the daily coach stopped before the gate, and who should spring from it but Albert Dodge.
This young man, as I have already described, had such a merry face that few could meet him without a warmth in the region of the heart. Certainly his new master could not, and advancing cordially he held out his hand, exclaiming:
"I was just thinking of you, and wishing you were at hand to help me plan a little. I want to do something with this brook."