"Harry," Marian continued, still excited by her experience, "this is Philip Hamlen—you've heard me speak so many times of him. My husband, Mr. Thatcher, Philip," she added, as the two men shook hands; then she presented him to the Stevenses.
Outwardly Hamlen showed none of the confusion which Marian so plainly manifested. He was the self-contained host, seemingly interested in the coincidence of the unexpected meeting, but by no means exercised over it.
"Welcome to my Garden of Eden," he said, smiling, as the magnificent expanse of cliff and sea greeted them—"thrice welcome, since to two of us this is in the nature of a reunion."
It was a revelation even in spite of their expectations. Involuntarily the eye first took in the turquoise water and the crumbling, broken shore-line undershot by the caves formed by the pounding of centuries of waves against the layers of animal formation. Except for the great dry-dock and the naval barracks across the entrance to Hamilton Harbor, all seemed as Nature had intended it.
Then, as the vision narrowed to its immediate surroundings, the visitors realized how much art had accomplished in making the garden into which their host had shown them seem so completely in harmony with the brilliant setting of its location. They had thought of Bermuda as the home of the Easter lily, not realizing that this is but a seasonal incident; they could not have believed it possible to make the luxuriant bloom of the tropical trees, shrubs, and flowers so subservient to the beauty of their foliage, yet so marvelous a finish to the brilliancy of the whole. The great rubber-tree extended its awkward branches in exactly the right directions to add quaint picturesqueness; the poincianas, as graceful as the rubber-tree was gauche, lifted their smooth, bare branches like elephant trunks, from which the great leaves hung down in magnificent clusters; the calabash, with its own ungainly beauty, proved its right by exactly fitting into the landscape at its own particular corner and the row of giant cabbage-palms stood like sentinels, adding a quiet dignity suggestive of the East. Between these and other massive trunks the smaller trees and flowering shrubs were interspersed in so original and bewildering a manner that each glance forced a new exclamation of delight. The night-blooming cereus crawled like an ugly reptile in and out among the branches of the giant cedars, but the bursting buds gave evidence that at nightfall they would redeem the hideous suggestiveness of the trailing vine. Cacti and sago-palms formed brilliant backgrounds for the lilies of novel shapes and colors, and for the other flowers which vied with one another for preference in the eye of their beholder.
The conversation was commonplace in its nature, and in it Marian took little part. The vivacity which usually made her conspicuous in any group had entirely left her. Her interest in the view from the Point and in the magnificent vegetation had vanished, and her eyes followed Hamlen as he indicated each special beauty to his guests. Edith Stevens was the only one who sensed the unusual; the men were too discreet or too occupied by the novelty of their experience.
"Do you mind, Harry," Marian said aloud, turning to her husband, "if the gardener shows you around the grounds? It has been years since I last saw Mr. Hamlen, and there are some matters I simply must talk over with him."
Nothing Marian Thatcher asked or did ever surprised her husband or her friends. The abruptness of the question, and the certainty she manifested that her request would at once be complied with, were characteristic. In the present instance, however, it was obvious that the unexpected meeting touched some hidden spring which took her back to a time in her life before they themselves had claims upon her, and they respected her desire to be alone with her revived friendship. A few moments later, with jocose chidings that she had appropriated for herself the chief attraction of the estate, they moved off under the guidance of the gardener, who was proud of the interest manifested in the results of his work in carrying out his master's plans.
"Please don't come back for at least half an hour," Marian called after them. Then she turned to her companion.
"So this is where you disappeared to?"