The garden of DELIGHTS

It was late in the summer now and the air was sweet with the scent of freshly cut hay drifting over from the fields behind the woods as Effie skipped along. She was delighted to see a few harebells still lining the path, their delicate lilac blooms swaying in the breeze.

Going through the kitchen garden, her usual shortcut to her job as a housemaid in the grand country house, she paused here and there to deadhead some of the geraniums and roses. She had persuaded old Jock the gardener to let her plant them earlier in the year.

Effie’s affection for flowers bemused Jock. He was more of a vegetable man himself. But since the girl had begun sneaking out to help him whenever she could, and had turned out to be ‘quite a good wee worker’, he had agreed to let her use the odd patch of ground that he didn’t need.

Now, as well as the bright scarlet flowers on the runner bean plants and the orange marigolds that Jock dotted around to draw pests away from his precious veg, there were roses in colours ranging from the palest pink to the deepest red. Earthenware pots were overflowing with salmon-pink pelargoniums.

Reluctantly, he had to agree that the overall effect was very pleasing.

This morning, Jock was leaning on his fork, holding his old, chipped enamel mug as Effie approached. He gestured to where a small figure