"I shall be in the garden at two," said the Rector.
"Shall I come as well and help?" Pauline offered.
"No, I want you to take some things into the town for me," said the Rector.
Guy's heart sank at this confirmation of his fears. Out in the hall Margaret took him aside.
"Margaret, you've been beyond words good to me."
Even Monica whispered to him that he was lucky, and Guy was so deeply impressed at being whispered to by Monica that it gave him a little courage for his interview. He joined the Rector in the garden punctually at two, and worked hard with labels and classifications.
"_A7,_" the Rector read out. "_A lavender twice as big as Lady Grizel Hamilton._ _D21_. _An orange that will not burn._ Humph! I don't believe it. Do you believe that, Birdwood?"
"There never was an orange as didn't burn like a house on fire the moment the sun set eyes on it."
"Of course it'll burn, and anyhow there's no such thing as an orange sweet-pea. If there is, it's Henry Eckford."
"Henry isn't orange," said Birdwood. "Leastways not an orange like you get at Christmas."
"Buff as he can be," said Birdwood. "What do you think, Mr. Hazlenut?" he went on, turning to Guy and winking very hard.
"I really don't know him ... it...." said Guy.
"_O5,_" the Rector began again. "_A cream and rose picotee Spenser._ Yes, I daresay," he commented. "And with about as much smell as distilled water."
So the business went on, with Guy on tenterhooks all the while for his own summing-up by the Rector. He thought the moment was arrived when Birdwood was sent off on an errand and when the Rector getting up from his kneeler began to shake the trowel at him impressively. But all he said was:
"Tingitana's plumping up magnificently. And we'll have some flowers in three weeks--the first I shall have had since the Diamond Jubilee. Sun! Sun!"
Guy jumped at the apostrophe, so nearly did it approximate to 'son-in-law.' But of this relation nothing was said, and now Pauline was calling out that tea was ready.
"Go in, my dear fellow," said the Rector. "I've still a few things to do in the garden. By the way was your father at Trinity, Oxford?"
"Ah, then, I didn't know him. I knew a Hazlewood at Trinity."
The Rector turned away to business elsewhere, and Guy was left to puzzle over his casual allusion. Perhaps he ought to have raised the subject of being in love with Pauline, for which purpose the Rector may have given him an opening. Or did this enquiry about his father portend a letter to him from the Rector about his son's prospects? He certainly ought to have said something to make the Rector realize how much tact would be necessary in approaching his father. Pauline called again from the nursery window, and Guy hurried off to join the rest of the family at tea.