"Are you the gardener?" Since Georgiana will not marry me, if she would only let me alone! "Old man, are you the gardener?" "Yes, I'm the gardener. I _know_ what _you_ are." "How much do you ask for your strawberries?" "They come high. _Nothing_ of mine is to be as cheap hereafter as it has been." "I am so glad--for your sake. I should like to possess _something_ of yours, but I suppose everything is too high now." "Entirely too high!" "If I only could have foreseen that there would be an increase of value! As for me, I have felt that I am getting cheaper lately. I may have to _give_ myself away soon. If I only knew of some one who loved the lower animals." "The fox, for instance?" "Yes; do you know of any one who would accept the present of a fox?" "Ahem! I wouldn't mind having a _tame_ fox. I don't care much for wild foxes." "Oh, this one would get tame--in time." "I don't believe I know of any one just at present." "Very well. Sylvia will get the highest mark in arithmetic. And Joe is distinguishing himself at West Point. That's what I wanted to tell you. I'll send you over the cream and sugar, and hope you will enjoy all your berries. _We_ shall buy some in the market-house next week." Later in the forenoon I sent the strawberries over to Georgiana. I have a variety that is the shape of the human heart, and when ripe it matches in color that brighter current of the heart through which runs the hidden history of our passions. All over the top of the dish I carefully laid these heart-shaped berries, and under the biggest one, at the very top, I slipped this little note: "Look at the shape of them, Georgiana! I send them all to you. They are perishable." This afternoon Georgiana sent back the empty dish, and inside the