June arrived and the estate entered summer with the particular conviction of gardens that have been well kept through a difficult year and are now performing their best argument for having been worth it.
The east garden that Mrs. Aldren had been planning since spring came into bloom in the second week of June, and I stood on the terrace on a Tuesday morning and looked at it with the specific satisfaction of someone who had watched something being built from the planning stage and was now seeing the result. It was generous and slightly wild at the edges, which was a departure from the geometric formality of the rest of the grounds, and it was exactly right.
“She designed it for you,” Damien said, appearing beside me with coffee and the information delivered in the tone of something self-e
