His lordship had numerous instructions to give on this last day, and his
lieutenant had to receive and register his orders. Lesbia went to the
garden with her book and with Fraeulein--the inevitable Fraeulein as
Hammond thought her--in close attendance.
It was a lovely morning, sultry, summer-like, albeit September had just
begun. The tennis lawn, which had been levelled on one side of the
house, was surrounded on three sides by shrubberies planted forty years
ago, in the beginning of Lady Maulevrier's widowhood. All loveliest
trees grew there in perfection, sheltered by the mighty wall of the
mountain, fed by the mists from the lake. Larch and mountain ash, and
Lawsonian cyprus,--deodara and magnolia, arbutus, and silver broom,
acacia and lilac, flourished here in that rich beauty which made every
cottage garden in the happy district a little paradise; and here in a
semi-circular recess at one end of the lawn were rustic chairs and
tables and an umbrella tent. This was Lady Lesbia's chosen retreat on
summer mornings, and a favourite place for afternoon tea.
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