CHAPTER VI

_JUNE_

Peace again in the household--Bedding-out the east garden--"Cherry-pie" geraniums--Scarlet verbenas--Clematis up the pillars, a future glory--Planting the tubs--Sweet-smelling plants for the evening--The hedgehog--Mouse and it are reconciled--A talk about hedgehogs--Auguste and "les escargots"--What Auguste will do with them--The growing demand in London--Bess and I enjoy the summer--The forsaken thrush's nest--Old Timothy and the yellow water wagtail's nest--A youthful memory--Old customs in Shropshire--Apple howlers--The old belief in the devil--Modern thought has blotted him out--The old Pagan Belief and how apple howling was but the last act of a Pagan rite--Domestic service and old Timothy's views--Servants old and new--How man and maid were engaged in the old days--A talk about stocks, and pillory--The old punishments at Wenlock--Judy Cookson in the scold's bridle--The sale of a wife--With a happy ending--A turn in the bee garden--White Martagon lilies, English peonies, briars, columbines, lupins, Oriental poppies, all about to open--A letter from Mrs. Stanley--Bess's views on London--A walk in the garden after a night's rain--The beauty of the rose--Old and new all are always welcome--A bush of rosemary--Old saws and customs--Evelyn's enjoyment of sweet plants--The old Hampshire garden--The burning bush--Laon Cathedral--Pinks, their delicious scent--Many sorts, but all delightful--The herb garden--A word about herbs--The single peony--Old beliefs about it--A drink of "peonina tea" from the Witch--Mustard as a manure for tulips--Woodruff, its sweet scent--Wormwood--Hester Burbidge a culler of herbs--Burbidge's despotic rule--Camomile, clove-basil, and mallow, all grown for medicinal purposes--Bess's views "on cherubims"--Bess's dream--A talk about a butterfly collection--Mrs. Eccles and her request--The sprig of bay--The old Roman belief--We meet Hals--Delight of the children--Bess wishes to buy a brother--A week of holidays--Charles Kingsley's Water-Babies--Long summer days--Walks and rides in the twilight--The wonderful glory of June--Thady Malone--The field on the Edge--The leveret--Mouse retrieves it, but does it no harm--Heaven--Bess declares there must be dogs there--Thady's tale 232