"Not a bit," he said. "Twenty years ago. Bit of garden to the house
with the big trees and cedars. All the rest fields and a great
up-and-down gravel pit."
"And you made it like this?" I cried with animation.
He nodded.
"Like it?" he asked.
"Like it!" I cried. "Oh!"
"Come along," he said. "This is the ornamental. Useful along here."
I followed him down a curving path, and at a turn he gave his head a
jerk over his right shoulder.
"House!" he said.
I looked in the indicated direction, and could see the very handsome
long, low, white house, with a broad green verandah in the front, and a
great range of conservatories at one end, whose glass glistened in the
evening light. The house stood on a kind of terrace, and lawn, and
patches of flowers and shrubs sloped away from it down into quite a
dell.
"Old gravel, pits," said Mr Solomon, noticing the way I gazed about the
place. "Come along."
He walked up to a great thick yew hedge with an archway of deep green in
it, and as soon as we were through he said shortly: "Useful."
I stared with wonder, for though I was now in a fruit and vegetable
garden it was wonderfully different to Old Brownsmith's, for here, in
addition to exquisite neatness, there was some attempt at ornamentation.
As soon as we had passed under the green arch we were on a great grass
walk, beautifully soft and velvety, with here and there stone seats, and
a group of stone figures at the farther end. Right and left were
abundance of old-fashioned flowers, but in addition there were neatly
trained and trimmed fruit-trees by the hundred, not allowed to grow high
like ours, but tied down as espaliers, and full of the promise of fruit.
Away right and left I could see great red brick walls covered with more
fruit-trees spread out like fans, or with one big stem going straight up
and the branches trained right and left in straight lines.
Everywhere the garden was a scene of abundance: great asparagus beds,
trim and well-kept rows of peas laden with pods, scarlet-runners running
at a tremendous rate up sticks; and lower down, quite an orchard of big
pyramid pear and apple trees.
"Like it?" said Mr Solomon, watching me narrowly.
"I can't tell you how much, sir!" I cried excitedly. "I never thought
to see such a garden as this."
"Ain't half seen it yet," he replied. "Come and see the glass."
He led me towards where I could see ranges of glass houses, looking
white and shining amongst the trees, and as we went on he pointed to
different plots of vegetables and other objects of interest.
"Pump and well," he said. "Deep. 'Nother at the bottom. Dry in
summer; plenty in the pools. Frames and pits yonder. Nobody at home
but the young gents. Wish they weren't," he added in a growl. "Limbs,
both of them. Like to know where you are to live?" he said.