" . . . and now the swordsman met," said the storyteller, "and the ground echoed beneath their rapid footfalls as they stamped around. Then there was a lunge and a sharp nerve-tingling scrape as one blade ran along the other; and then, without a groan, down fell one of these brave warriors flat upon his back upon the grass, the wild flowers, and bits of bark. "Instantly the impulses of a woman flashed through every vein and nerve of that onlooking girl. Springing out from her leafy concealment, she knelt beside the fallen man. The other soldier sprang back; for it seemed as though there had suddenly appeared before him a being from another world!" John Gayther and the Mistress of the House tend the terraced gardens, surrounded by red tassels of currant-bush and the overpowering sweetness of the lilies. Yet the luxuriant vegetation is more than matched by the richness of storytelling the garden inspires. Tales of far-off places, kings, and hermit's daughters spill off the lips of the gardeners and their visitors, in this vibrant concoction by American novelist Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902), author of the popular "Rudder Grange."