[Illustration: And through it, in trailing velvet, came a lady.—P. 392.] THE WONDERFUL GARDEN OR THE THREE C.’s BY E. NESBIT AUTHOR OF ‘THE WOULD-BE-GOODS,’ ‘THE AMULET,’ ETC. ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. R. MILLAR MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1911 _COPYRIGHT_ TO CECILY, KATHLEEN AND MAVIS CARTER WITH LOVE FROM E. NESBIT CROWLINK, SUSSEX, 1911. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE BEGINNING 1 CHAPTER II THE MANOR HOUSE 13 CHAPTER III THE WONDERFUL GARDEN 34 CHAPTER IV IN THESSALONIANS 50 CHAPTER V THE MIDNIGHT ADVENTURE 67 CHAPTER VI HUNTED 83 CHAPTER VII BEING DETECTIVES 98 CHAPTER VIII THE HEROINE 119 CHAPTER IX THE MORNING AFTER 132 CHAPTER X BREWING THE SPELL 152 CHAPTER XI THE ROSICURIANS 175 CHAPTER XII THE OTHER BOOK 191 CHAPTER XIII THE ROSY CURE 209 CHAPTER XIV THE MINERAL WOMAN 222 CHAPTER XV JUSTICE 244 CHAPTER XVI THE APPEAL TO CÆSAR 259 CHAPTER XVII THE LE-O-PARD 282 CHAPTER XVIII THE LEOPARD’S-BANE 298 CHAPTER XIX F. OF H.D. 319 CHAPTER XX THE WAXEN MAN 340 CHAPTER XXI THE ATONEMENT OF RUPERT 355 CHAPTER XXII THE PORTRAIT 370 CHAPTER XXIII THE END 386 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE And through it, in trailing velvet, came a lady _Frontispiece_ There was a good deal of whispered talk and mystery 15 ‘You sit next him, Charles’ 19 ‘They burned her for a witch’ 31 ‘How beautifully everything grows here’ 43 Of course they all liked to try 55 A hand was raised 65 ‘Just remember we’re yours to the death’ 81 ‘_I_ believed you—without that,’ said Charlotte 93 They were the footprints, beyond any doubt, of a boy 111 ‘Fetches him a bite of something’ 127 ‘If I whistle, you lay low’ 141 Showed her a green parrot sitting on a nest 155 He screwed up his nose 165 ‘It’s a Nihilist bomb, come away!’ 187 Rupert rolled into bed 205