at!' Another time
she was out, and had forgotten that she had asked me at all; but as she
has asked you too, that will hardly be the case to-day."

Peggy threw back her head and regarded Rob with a curious scrutiny.
"Methinks I perceive an air of unusual festivity in my venerable friend.
It takes a great deal to rouse him to any sign of feeling, so one must
needs conclude that some important event had occurred. May one inquire
its nature?"

"Peggy may, if she cares to hear it!" returned Rob briefly. "I have had
one or two pieces of good luck lately, Mariquita, which have cheered me
up. That's all. I want to earn some money, you know, and not depend
entirely on what the father allows me. My books and papers have done
well in one sense, though there's not much money to be made out of
scientific writing, but now I believe I see my way to making a good
thing out of my plants. I think I told you before that I have sold some
of the specimens which I brought home at a very good price, and I have
one shrub in particular which is bringing in quite a little income.
It's a species of broom which I discovered in the most accidental
fashion. I was on a hunting expedition one day when I was in Africa,
and was hiding behind a clump of broom, when I noticed that one bush was
different from the rest. They were plain, but it was mottled in two
distinct shades of the same colour. It was evidently a freak, a disease
of some sort, as such variations generally are, but it was uncommonly
pretty all the same. I had never seen anything of the kind before, and,
without conceit, I may say that I know a good deal more about plants
than the ordinary professional gardener. Well, I examined it, and it
occurred to me, Peg, that it would be a much better day's work to secure
that shrub than to go on with my sport. I unloaded my gun, marked the
spot, and had a look round, to see if I could find any further
specimens, but no, all the rest were the ordinary type. The first bush
was the one exception. Luckily it was not very big, and I managed to
dig it up and get it home alive, and after that there was no difficulty,
for it is healthy enough, and grows almost as well as the common
species. I set to work striking cuttings, and, after waiting until I
had a good supply on hand, sent specimens of the bloom to several big
nurserymen. They took it up at once with the utmost keenness, and I am
now able to sell cuttings as fast as I can strike t