and all I imparted to him, would form the basis
of a farce of no ordinary merit had it not had its birth in interests
and intents bordering on the tragic.

A row of bushes of various species ran along the wall and covered in
some instances the lower ledges of the first row of windows. As I made
for a certain shrub which I had observed growing near what I supposed to
be the casement from whose blind I had chipped a small sliver, I allowed
my enthusiasm to bubble over, in my evident desire to display my
erudition.

"This," said I, "is, without any doubt at all, a stunted but undoubted
specimen of that rare tree found seldom north of the thirtieth degree,
the _Magnolia grandiflora_. I have never seen it but once before, and
that was in the botanical gardens in Washington. Note its leaves. You
have noted its flowers, smaller undoubtedly than they should be--but
then you must acknowledge it has been in a measure neglected--are they
not fine?"

Here I pulled a branch down which interfered with my view of the window.
There was no chip visible in the blinds thus discovered. Seeing this, I
let the branch go. "But the oddest feature of this tree and one with
which you are perhaps not acquainted" (I wonder if anybody is?) "is that
it will not grow within twenty feet of any plant which scatters pollen.
See for yourself. This next shrub bears no flower" (I was moving along
the wall), "nor this." I drew down a branch as I spoke, caught sight of
the mark I was looking for, and let the bough spring back. I had found
the window I wanted.

His grunts and groans during all this formed a running accompaniment
which would have afforded me great secret amusement had my purpose been
less serious. As it was, I could pay but little attention to him,
especially after I had stepped back far enough to take a glance at the
window over the one I had just located as that of the Flower Parlor. It
was, as I expected, the third one from the rear corner; but it was not
this fact which gave me a thrill of feeling so strong that I have never
had harder work to preserve my equanimity. _It was the knot of black
crape with which the shutters were tied together._

XX

QUESTIONS

I kept the promise I had made to myself and did not go to the stables.
Had I intended to go there, I could not have done so after the discovery
I have just mentioned. It awakened too many thoughts and contradictory
surmises. If this knot was a signal, for whom was this