"I'll do nothing of the sort, my dear. This is not Rodney's
investment."

"Nor mine, I suppose!"

"All I want you to do, Natalie, is to consult me. I want you to
have a free hand, but some one with a sense of responsibility ought
to check up these expenditures. But it isn't only that. I'd like
to have a hand in the thing myself. I've rather looked forward to
the time when we could have the sort of country place we wanted."

"You don't like any of the strings to get out of your fingers,
do you?"

"I didn't come up to quarrel, Natalie. I wish you wouldn't force
it on me."

"I force it on you," she cried, and laughed in a forced and
high-pitched note. "Just because I won't be over-ridden without a
protest! I'm through, that's all. I shan't go near the place again."

"You don't understand," he persisted patiently. "I happen to like
gardens. I had an idea - I told you about it - of trying to
duplicate the old garden at home. You remember it. When we went
there on our honeymoon - "

"You don't call that a garden?"

"Of course I didn't want to copy it exactly. It was old and out of