The little statement of accounts that I formally laid upon the study table was as follows:
"How neatly it fits in. You have not been driven to arrange matters with the usual feminine etcetera."
"Because I have paid those etceteras myself."
"Really, but what were the etceteras? I thought they were always unknown quantities in ladies' accounts."
"That is one of the delusions of menkind. My etceteras were all the pennies paid for hampers coming and going, for labels, for scissors, three shillings those, without whose aid I could never have cut my way through the summer; they hold the flowers as you cut and save much backache. Then for sulphur, for quassia chips, for bast, for--"
"Hold! I will never ask what a woman's etcetera means again. I see it is much the most important part of the whole account. I wish they always paid it themselves. But why did you?"
"Oh, because, because five pounds is _so_ little, you can have no idea how little, to buy everything with."
"Yes, but you started away with the idea it was a great deal."
"I said I could put _some_ flowers in the garden with it anyway, and so I have. Even the Others allow that."
"Well, shall we say six pounds for this next year?"
"Will you really, sir? Oh, that is good! Now I shall go at once and order a pound's worth of peonies. There was such an enticing advertisement in this morning's _Standard_, and I have been resisting temptation, because I really had to buy herbaceous plants and a good many bulbs. They have made such a hole. But in time, you see, in time the garden will get quite full."
Yes, peonies with the delicious description of "blush rose," "deep carmine," "snowy queen" had held my thoughts for some time. That front border ought to be devoted to all varieties of flowering shrubs, and in time it should be. There was plenty of room for my peonies; so they were quickly ordered and the border made as good for them as I could manage. They like being well-treated. But when I thought of the watering next year my heart failed me. Something must be done.
That advertisement and the extra pound lured me on to further bulbs. Two hundred narcissi, mixed, and so cheap! only five shillings, were buried in the grass down the shrubbery side of the lawn. How cheering they would be in spring! A sweep of sweet nodding white and yellow.