"To you, madam, deaf to Love's alarms, for evermore protected against his showered darts, such precocious ardour must appear improbable, but I have proof of its existence." "Malicious tongues! The world is so censorious. It would destroy the reputation of the mother by insinuations against the virtue of the child." "Madam, pray allow me to narrate the unhappy but indisputable facts of the affair. You must know that it is a part of my duties--a pleasant part, if I may say so without undue want of reserve--to inspect Curtain Garden from time to time. You will recollect that this forenoon we enjoyed for two hours a glimpse of the sun. Having been kept indoors during the last two or three days, I determined to seize the balmy occasion and perform my rural duties. I observed that the spring bulbs were remarkably forward. I noticed with pleasant anticipation of summer saunters that the paths were in good order, the gravel free from weeds. From the main Promenade I turned into the Maze." The widow started. "The yew hedges were neatly trimmed and I noticed some very good examples of topiary; I may mention in particular the transformation of the old Noah into a peacock whose tail will doubtless gain a more vigorous plumage from the warm weather. I wandered along contemplating the various greens of the mosses that adorn the path and muffle the footsteps in a manner extremely suitable to the decorous quiet of the surroundings. During my saunters, I delight to rest my mind with the recitation of the Odes and Epodes of my poetick and pre-Christian namesake. I was embarked upon the apostrophe to Lyce: _Nec Coae referunt jam tibi purpurae Nec clari lapides tempora, quae semel Notis condita fastis Inclusit volucris dies._ "I had got so far, but egad! I could get no farther for the life of me. I repeated the last four lines, and in my attempts to catch the fugitive--Ah!" cried the Beau, "I have it!" _Quo fugit Venus? Heu quove color? decens_ _Quo motus?_ or to paraphrase with an extempore couplet, _Where now is fled thy beauty? Where thy bloom,_ _Those airy steps that charmed th' expectant room?_ "To continue, however--this elusive sentence made me lose my direction and I found myself removed from the centre of the Maze by an impenetrable hedge of yew. I was about to retrace my steps when I heard voices on the other side of the hedge. It was a duet, madam--man and maid, flute and bass viol, fife and drum, describe it how you will." "Did you recognize the voices?" "Madam, I did not." "Then how--since you were not able to see over the tops of the hedges without----" The Great little Man drew himself up. "Madam," he said, "I regard the physical exertion of bobbing up and down as ungenteel." "Then how do you----?"