by God's grace to
each other.

For all things come by fate to flower,
At their unconquerable hour.

And the very atmosphere of such bliss is diffusive; it seemed as if all
the living creatures around understood. In the thick, green branches
the birds began to twitter the secret, and certainly the wise, wise bees
knew also, in some occult way, of the love and joy that had just been
revealed. A wonderful humming and buzzing filled the hives, and the
air vibrated with the movement of wings. Some influence more swift and
secret than the birds of the air carried the matter further, for it
finally reached Royal, the Squire's favorite collie, who came sauntering
down the alley, pushed his nose twice under Ethel's elbow, and then with
a significant look backward, advised the lovers to follow him to the
house.

When they finally accepted his invitation, they found Mrs. Rawdon
drinking a cup of tea with Ruth in the hall. Ethel joined them with
affected high spirits and random explanations and excuses, but both
women no-ticed her radiant face and exulting air. "The garden is such a
heavenly place," she said ecstatically, and Mrs Rawdon remarked, as she
rose and put her cup on the table, "Girls need chaperons in gardens if
they need them anywhere. I made Nicholas Rawdon a promise in Mossgill
Garden I've had to spend all my life since trying to keep."

"Tyrrel and I have been sitting under the plane tree watching the bees.
They are such busy, sensible creatures."

"They are that," answered Mrs. Rawdon. "If you knew all about them you
would wonder a bit. My father had a great many; he studied their ways
and used to laugh at the ladies of the hive being so like the ladies of
the world. You see the young lady bees are just as inexperienced as a
schoolgirl. They get lost in the flowers, and are often so overtaken and
reckless, that the night finds them far from the hive, heavy with
pollen and chilled with cold. Sometimes father would lift one of these
imprudent young things, carry it home, and try to get it admitted. He
never could manage it. The lady bees acted just as women are apt to do
when other women GO where they don't go, or DO as they don't do."

"But this is interesting," said Ruth. "Pray, how did the ladies of the
hive behave to the culprit?"

"They came out and felt her all over, turned her round and round, and
then pushed her out of their community. There was always a deal of
buzzing about the poor, silly thing