tany, and kept up by successors who could not endure
the cold, uncomfortable house. It was said to have been a similar taste
in Mr. Steel which had first attracted him to the place; but as he never
confirmed or contradicted anything that was said of him, and would only
smile when a rumor reached his ears, there was no real foundation for
the report.

The ducal botanist had left behind him the rarest collection of plants
and trees, and a tradition in scientific gardening which had not been
allowed to die; it was neglected Normanthorpe that had loaded the tables
and replenished the greenhouses of seats more favored by the family; and
all this was the more wonderful as a triumph of art over some natural
disadvantages in the way of soil and climate. The Normanthorpe roses,
famous throughout the north of England, were as yet barely budding in
the kindless wind; the blaze of early bulbs was over; but there were the
curious alien trees, and the ornamental waters haunted by outlandish
wildfowl, bred there on the same principle of acclimatization.

"I expect you know the way quite well," said Rachel, as they followed a
winding path over a bank of rhododendrons near the lake; "to me every
stroll is still a voyage of exploration, and I shall be rather sorry
when I begin to know exactly what I am going to see next. Now, I have
never been this way before, and have no idea what is coming, so you must
tell me, if you know. What a funny scent! I seem to know it, too. Why,
what have they got here?"

On the further side of the bank of rhododendrons the path had descended
into a sheltered hollow, screened altogether from the colder winds, and,
even in this temperate month of May, a very trap for the afternoon sun.
And in this hollow was a clump of attenuated trees, with drooping leaves
of a lacklustre hue, and a white bark peeling from the trunk; a pungent
aroma, more medicinal than sylvan, hung rather heavily over the
sequestered spot.

Rachel stood a moment with wide nostrils and round eyes; the look hardly
lasted longer, and she said no more, but she was aware that Morna had
made some answer to her question.

"What did you say?" inquired Rachel, turning politely to her visitor.

"I said they were blue gums from Australia."

Rachel made no immediate comment; secretive she might have to be, but
to a deliberate pretence she would not stoop. So she did not even say,
"Indeed!" but merely, after a pause, "You are something of a botani