The Trousseau by Mary Mageau Read Free Book Online

from your back door to the table. You could work on your garden beds along the pathway and it would also look natural and attractive. I’ve sketched the locations of different vegetable beds where you can easily grow tomatoes, cabbages, carrots and lettuce. With a framework that I’ll make later, peas and climbing beans can add to your food supply. The garden is too small for a potato bed but these can be purchased from the shops. Do you have any suggestions for me?’
    Clotilde was surprised at how quickly he worked and how well he could speak, write and draw.
    â€˜This would be wonderful just as you have explained it. When can you start work?’
    â€˜Monsieur Duphly will give me one full day so perhaps Saturday, the day after tomorrow, would be a suitable time for me to come?’
    â€˜Yes, I will be back here in the garden after the children leave school at noon. Thank you for this fine plan.’
    On the appointed day Jacques appeared with his garden tools, a wheelbarrow and several boxes of small plants. He began by using a shovel to dig up the garden and turn the soil. When this was finished he took flat paving stones from the wheelbarrow and laid a pathway. The table and benches were relocated with ease. It was now noon and Clotilde noticed how hard he had worked and how much he had accomplished. She carried out a jug of cold water and a covered plate to her table, smiled at Jacques and said, ‘You should sit in the shade now and eat this lunch.’
    â€˜Thank you, Mademoiselle. You are very kind,’ replied Jacques. He was amazed when he uncovered the plate to see a chicken drumstick, a large piece of cheese and a small half loaf of bread. It was sweet and filled with raisins. It had been such a long time since he had enjoyed food like this. When lunch was finished he planted the seedlings and asked Clotilde to look over her garden. ‘It may rain later this afternoon and these plants will receive a good watering. In another two weeks I’ll bring in some new plants and you can add them to the beds yourself. In this way you will keep your garden always flowering and producing food.’
    Jacques could not help but notice Clotilde’s blue green eyes and her beautiful chestnut brown hair. She had noted his handsome face, his quietly spoken manner and strong determination to complete the work on her garden. ‘I look forward to receiving my next plants. Thank you so much for your hard work today.’ He nodded, packed his tools and returned to the Government Garden.
    There he surveyed his handiwork and that of Gerard Duphly, as his thoughts travelled back to his arrival on Grande Terre. Nearly two years had passed already and after Christmas he would begin at the halfway mark of his sentence. The time had slipped away quickly and he had achieved much toward developing the garden. In his very first week Gerard presented him with a problem.
    â€˜Jacques, what can I do with this large piece of open land, to make it more pleasing to the people here? I was thinking of hedge rows enclosing garden beds set out in a geometrical design. What are your thoughts?’
    â€˜Monsieur Duphly, do we really want to copy the formal French gardening style with its fountains, cascades and evergreens clipped to perfection? Or do you favour the Dutch influence with William of Orange’s topiary, cones and pyramids. We’ll both be worked to death cutting and clipping if we choose either of these styles.’
    â€˜What ideas do you have instead of these?’
    â€˜In my last months at the Bagatelle I saw a painting of an English garden planned in a completely new way. This garden was less formal with trees being allowed to grow into their natural shapes. The pathways were freely flowing to take advantage of different views. Flowers were mass planted in garden beds that had been set out in scrolls and ovals. The whole effect was natural and uncluttered and was designed by a