Yet, in either
aspect, no one could pretend that he looked like anything but a
genuine Head Gardener, the spirit of the kitchen-garden and the
potting-shed incarnate.
It was the way he answered questions that earned for him the title of
enigma--he avoided a direct reply. (He was so cautious that he would
hesitate even when he came to die.) He would think twice about it. The
decision to draw the final breath would incapacitate him. He would
feel worse--and probably continue alive instead, from sheer inability
to make his mind up. In all circumstances, owing to his calling
doubtless, he preferred to hedge. If Mrs. Horton asked for celery, he
would intimate "I'll have a look." When Daddy enquired how the
asparagus was doing, he obtained for reply, "Won't you come and see it
for yourself, sir?" Upon Mother's anxious enquiry if there would be
enough strawberries for the School Treat, WEEDEN stated "It's been a
grand year for the berries, mum." Then, just when she felt relieved,
he added, "on the 'ole."
For the children, therefore, the Gardener was a man of mystery and
power, and when they saw his figure in the distance, their imagination
leaped forward with their bodies, and WEEDEN stood wrapped in a glory
he little guessed.
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