THE ARRIVAL-THE CHAPTER IV. GARDEN-VIOLETS-THE THRUSH-MEMORY -SILENCE-THE WIDOW AND HER TRUANT SON-GOOD NIGHT. AFTER about an hour's drive, the coach stopped at the gate of a small garden which separated the house from the road. A maid-servant came to the door, and a man, who looked like a gardener, took the luggage and carried it to the house, while Mrs. Duncan and Gilbert alighted, and having taken leave of Mrs. Hope, and paid the coachman, they entered the house. The servants appeared very glad to see their mistress. Gilbert followed Mrs. Duncan into the drawing-room, the windows of which faced the west. The declining sun shone full into the room, which looked neat, bright, and cheerful; the windows descended to the ground, and opened into a large garden. Gilbert, as he looked upon it, thought, "Now I really am in the country." "You can go into the garden for a few minutes, if you like," said Mrs. Duncan, opening the window. "I should like it," he replied, "if you will go with me." "Not just now," she said; "why should you not go by yourself?" Gilbert looked timidly around him. "There is nothing to be afraid of; but do as you please," said Mrs. Duncan. He walked out upon the gravel-walk which ran along the front of the house, and looked about him. Mrs. Duncan had perceived that he was a timid child, probably naturally so, and the weakness caused by illness had increased this natural timidity. Always living in London, he had never left the house alone; and Esther's extreme care of him had no doubt tended to make him less independent. Mrs. Duncan thought it most judicious not to notice this failing, expecting he would gradually gain strength and courage. She now watched him from the window, and observed that he went on a few steps, and returned as soon as he lost sight of her. "If you go to the end of that walk," she said, "I think you may find some violets. They grow beneath the hedge; you can gather some, and put them in water." Gilbert went along the walk with cautious steps, looking back every now and then, as if he were afraid the house should disappear. When he came to the hedge, he saw the violets, and plunging his hand into the midst, he plucked a handful, not regarding what he gathered, nor how he gathered them; and then ran back to the house as if very anxious to reach it. “Here are the violets," he said, out of breath with alarm and haste. "I see," said Mrs. Duncan, as he emptied his hand on the table, "you don't know much about gathering flowers; you have plucked leaves and grass, and more |