"Take Mr. Huntington down to the water-garden," Marian suggested smiling; "no one will think of looking for you there."
"Would you like to go?" Merry asked him.
"Nothing would rest me more."
"Won't you come, Momsie?"
"No, dear; you must do the honors in my stead."
They wandered through the formal garden in silence, down the shaded bosquet, and across a bit of lawn to the fresh-water garden which was built only a little back from the shore itself. A miniature torii, from whose crossbeam hung a replica in straw of the mystic shimenawa, marked the entrance, sounding the motivation for the Oriental note within. They passed through this and walked between the rows of Japanese maples which formed an avenue ending in a vista of the sea. In the moment they had transported themselves, for within the limitations marked by the avenue of trees there was nothing to suggest anything save the East: there were the little shrines surrounded by Oriental flower-pots; there was a tiny lake, crossed by an arched stone bridge, through which could be seen the luxuriant bloom of the lotus and other rare aquatic plants, brilliant in their coloring and foliage, growing in and out of the water and over the rocks with well-planned irregularity; there was the lilliputian grove of dwarfed trees impudently challenging comparison with their taller neighbors.
"I'm glad you brought me here," Huntington said as they seated themselves upon a curiously-carved stone. "Other parts of the estate are far more impressive, but you have no spot which appeals to me more by virtue of its beauty."
"I love it too," the girl acknowledged. "Almost every one looks at it once or twice and admires it, but no one seems to care to linger here as I do. I am sure to be alone, so I come almost every day to read Lafcadio Hearn and to dream of Nippon."
"I understand," Huntington said quietly; "and I'll warrant you find yourself spending much of your time gazing at the surface of that little lake."
"Yes," she exclaimed surprised; "but how do you know that, and why should I do it?"