From some distance I had seen a veritable palace set high among
the trees and overlooking a wonderful green valley--and, drawing
nearer, I saw evidences of well-kept roadways and a visible
effort to make invisible the attempt to preserve the wild beauty
of the place. I saw, or thought I saw, people on the wide
veranda, and I was sure I heard the snort of a climbing
motor-car, but I had scarcely decided to make my way up to the
house when I came, at the turning of the country road, upon a bit
of open land laid out neatly as a garden, near the edge of which,
nestling among the trees, stood a small cottage. It seemed
somehow to belong to the great estate above it, and I concluded,
at the first glance, that it was the home of some caretaker or
gardener.
It was a charming place to see, and especially the plantation of
trees and shrubs. My eye fell instantly upon a fine
magnolia--rare in this country--which had not yet cast all its
blossoms, and I paused for a moment to look at it more closely. I
myself have tried to raise magnolias near my house, and I know
how difficult it is.
As I approached nearer to the cottage, I could see a man and
woman sitting on the porch in the twilight and swaying back and
forth in rocking-chairs. I fancied-- it may have been only a
fancy--that when I first saw them their hands were clasped as
they rocked side by side.
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