“Too much self-consciousness.” “Are you, too, self-conscious?” “Sometimes.” “Not when you are interested.” “Perhaps not.” They passed several of Canterton’s men parading the walks leading to the nurseries. Temporary wire fences and gates had been put up here and there. Canterton smiled. “Doesn’t it strike you as almost too pointed?” “What, that barbed wire?” “Yes. I believe I have made myself an offence to the neighbourhood. But the few people I care about understand. Besides, we give to our friends.” “I think you must have been a brave man.” “No, an obstinate one. I did not see why the Mrs. Brocklebanks should have pieces of my rare plants. I have even had my men bribed once or twice. You should hear Lavender on the subject. Look at that!” He had brought her down to see the heath garden, and her verdict was an awed silence. They stood side by side, looking at the magnificent masses of colour glowing in the afternoon light. “Oh, how exquisite!” “It is rather like drinking when one is thirsty.” “Yes.” He half turned to her. “I want to see the Latimer paintings. May I come down after dinner, and have a chat with your mother?” She felt something rise in her throat, a faint spasm of resistance that lasted only for a moment. “But—the artificial light?” “I want to see them.” It was not so much a surrender on her part as a tacit acceptance of his enthusiasm. “Yes, come.” “Thank you.” * * * * * CHAPTER XIII A MAN IN THE MOONLIGHT It was no unusual thing for Canterton to spend hours in the gardens and nurseries after dark. He was something of a star-gazer and amateur astronomer, but it was the life of the earth by night that drew him out with lantern, collecting-box and hand lens. Often he went moth hunting, for the history of many a moth is also the history of some pestilence that cankers and blights the green growth of some tree or shrub. No one who has not gone out by night with a lantern to search and to observe has any idea of the strange, creeping life that wakes with the darkness. It is like the life of another world, thousand-legged, slimy, grotesque, repulsive, and yet full of significance to the Nature student who goes out to use his eyes.