anon, to my more
immediate terror, he would straighten his back, stretch his arms, gaze
about the otherwise deserted garden, and relish a deep pinch of snuff.
It was my first thought to drop from the wall upon the other side. A
glance sufficed to show me that even the way by which I had come was now
cut off, and the field behind me already occupied by a couple of
shepherds' assistants and a score or two of sheep. I have named the
talismans on which I habitually depend, but here was a conjuncture in
which both were wholly useless. The copestone of a wall arrayed with
broken bottles is no favourable rostrum; and I might be as eloquent as
Pitt, and as fascinating as Richelieu, and neither the gardener nor the
shepherd lads would care a halfpenny. In short, there was no escape
possible from my absurd position: there I must continue to sit until one
or other of my neighbours should raise his eyes and give the signal for
my capture.

The part of the wall on which (for my sins) I was posted could be scarce
less than twelve feet high on the inside; the leaves of the beech which
made a fashion of sheltering me were already partly fallen; and I was
thus not only perilously exposed myself, but enabled to command some
part of the garden walks and (under an evergreen arch) the front lawn
and windows of the cottage. For long nothing stirred except my friend
with the spade; then I heard the opening of a sash; and presently after
saw Miss Flora appear in a morning wrapper and come strolling hitherward
between the borders, pausing and visiting her flowers--herself as fair.
_There_ was a friend; _here_, immediately beneath me, an unknown
quantity--the gardener: how to communicate with the one and not attract
the notice of the other? To make a noise was out of the question; I
dared scarce to breathe. I held myself ready to make a gesture as soon
as she should look, and she looked in every possible direction but the
one. She was interested in the vilest tuft of chickweed, she gazed at
the summit of the mountain, she came even immediately below me and
conversed on the most fastidious topics with the gardener; but to the
top of that wall she would not dedicate a glance! At last she began to
retrace her steps in the direction of the cottage; whereupon, becoming
quite desperate, I broke off a piece of plaster, took a happy aim, and
hit her with it in the nape of the neck. She clapped her hand to the
place, turned about, looked on all sides fo