Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/204

198 went out walking, the boys took their kites to let them fly on the top of the hill. Adelka followed them, catching upon a switch the fine threads of gossamer that floated in the breeze. Barunka gathered viburnum and haw berries for Grandmother, which she used in her medicines, and hips for culinary purposes; or she picked mountain ash berries to make bracelets and necklaces for Adelka. Grandmother loved to sit with the children on the top of the hill behind the castle. Before them spread a beautiful valley, where a herd of cattle was grazing; they could see even to the village, and at their feet was the castle, built upon a small elevation and surrounded by a park. All was now changed. The green curtains were drawn, no flowers were seen on the balcony, and the roses on the sides of the balustrade were faded; instead of attendants in livery, common laborers were seen in the garden, covering the plants with branches of evergreen. No beautiful flowers were seen, but the germs of them were hidden beneath the covering, and in due time would delight the eye of their mistress. Rare exotics, deprived of their green robes, were rolled up in straw; the fountains, sending forth silvery streams of water were protected with moss and lumber, and the golden fishes had hidden in the bottom of the pools whose surface, at other times so clear, was now covered with leaves, duck weed, and green slime. The children looked down to the castle and thought of the time when they walked with Hortense in the garden; they remembered how beautiful everything was when they breakfasted with her, and wondered where she was now. Grandmother, however, preferred to look