l iron gates had not been
closed for years, and, rusting on their hinges, had pressed back against
the inner wall, and were almost hidden by the tangle of vines, that were
woven in and out of the bars, and waved about in the sunshine from their
tops.

The square garden which the wall inclosed was full of cool, green
darkness; the trees were the growth of three generations, and the
syringas and lilacs were so thick and close they had scarcely light
enough for blossoming. The box borders, which edged the straight prim
walks, had grown, in spite of clippings, to be almost hedges, so that the
paths between them were damp, and the black, hard earth had a film of
moss over it. Old-fashioned flowers grew just where their ancestors had
stood fifty years before. "I could find the bed of white violets with my
eyes shut," said Miss Ruth Woodhouse; and she knew how far the lilies of
the valley spread each spring, and how much it would be necessary to
clip, every other year, the big arbor vitae, so that the sunshine might
fall upon her bunch of sweet-williams.

Miss Ruth was always very generous with her flowers, but now that there
was to be a wedding at the rectory she meant to strip the garden of every
blossom she could find, and her nephew was to take them to the church the
first thing in the morning.

Gifford Woodhouse had lately returned from Europe, and his three years'
travel had not prepared his aunts to treat him as anything but the boy he
seemed to them when he left the law school. They still "sent dear Giff"
here, or "brought him" there, and arranged his plans for him, in entire
unconsciousness that he might have a will of his own. Perhaps the big
fellow's silence rather helped the impression, for so long as he did not
remonstrate when they bade him do this or that, it was not of so much
consequence that, in the end, he did exactly as he pleased. This was not
often at variance with the desires of the two sisters, for the wordless
influence of his will so enveloped them that his wishes were apt to be
theirs. But no one could have been more surprised than the little ladies,
had they been told that their nephew's intention of practicing law in the
lumber town of Lockhaven had been his own idea.

They had cordially agreed with him when he observed that another lawyer
in Ashurst, beside Mr. Denner, would have no other occupation than to
make his own will; and they had nodded approvingly when the young man
added that it wou