In a Garden OF)

the spring, they flung seeds about broadcast,
and so every year fresh flowers showed
themselves, and as most of the flowers,
particularly the old-fashioned ones, brought
their own elves, the merry little company
became all the merrier.

It was perhaps for this reason that Dick
so very much loved the spring. It was full
of surprises. If he pushed aside the dewy
leaves and stooped down, as likely as not he
would see clear eyes smiling up at him, and
know that here was a new friend ; and when
light-hearted young summer appeared, more
flowers and more elves gave him welcome
with bubbles of laughter. Dick understood
what they said, for he was not yet old
enough to have forgotten, and though he
had no other companions he was never
lonely. His mother had died when he was
born, and his father seldom came to the old
house, because he said Dick’s brown eyes
were so much like his mother’s that they
made him feel miserable; the servants were

kind, but content that he should play about
G