“Syrene looked at me, obviously confused for a moment, then her expression changed to one of tentative recognition, “Are you the carpenter that I fished out of the river? You look a lot less bedraggled than the last time I saw you!” She burst into chortles of laughter, “Oh this is priceless, ‘you’ rescued young Sam?”

  “I nodded, to which she doubled over in mirth before getting a hold of herself and replying, “Please tell me you didn’t just jump in the river again!”

  “Not this time”, I grinned, “I decided that fishing with a pole was more my style.”

  “So you are the Master Carpenter Silas, my how strange fate can be”, she exclaimed while leading me out the door and onto the garden path outside. “We will be taking refreshments in the Water Garden, it’s just up ahead”.

  “Syrene led us through a wide circular arch set in a stone wall, apparently something called a ‘Moon Gate’, she told me, an idea her mother had imported from the far off Qing Dynasty after a trading voyage. The garden also was a product of the same inspiration. Beyond the walls was a carefully manicured enclosure where a large variety of dwarf trees framed a small lake with a lone island sporting a red and black lacquered pavilion. Our path followed alongside a wall, then underneath a pergola - heavily draped in flowering wisteria vines that released a lovely fragrance into the air. The pergola continued over a bridge, under which many small orange and white fish cruised about lazily between the clumps of water lilies, and continued across the island until it ended at the pavilion.”

  “This is quite amazing!” I said, the carpenter in me busily inspecting everything from the pavilion’s construction to the different dwarf trees adorning the pond. “You must have very skilled gardeners, and this carpentry - was it brought from afar?”

  “Syrene nodded, “Mother had purchased it on that same trip then had it carefully dismantled to be reassembled once she got home. She also brought wisteria seeds and some of the older trees back with her although not all survived the salt air and the long sea voyage.”

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  “Two maids soon arrived bearing refreshments and a pot of tea, which they deposited before bowing and retreating from the garden.”

  Syrene continued, “I must admit that I was quite surprised to hear that young Sam had been found alive and well - and rescued by none less than a Master Carpenter. When I sent the invitation out I was expecting to entertain some portly hard of hearing elder”, she paused, “But you? You I most certainly did not expect!”, she laughed again, “Fate is a fickle thing, perhaps it decided to give you a chance to even the score.”

  “Young Sam was telling how he arrived on a boat that you built yourself, did you become a shipwright as well?”

  “I hardly doubt the Bean qualifies me as a shipwright”, I laughed. “Although I did receive much advice from one Master Shipwright Burley.”

  “For the last few years we have been working together when the need arose, my very first project with him was on a schooner called the Callista, if you know of it?”

  “I do know of that ship”, she replied, “they came up river once, bringing some Duke northward to visit the mines. They had just successfully returned from a trade trip with the Murghals in Bombay and Mother just ‘had’ to acquire as much tea as they could sell her from their remaining stocks”.

  “I took a sip of my tea, “I’m not really one for far off sea voyages, anywhere I cannot see the bottom has me on edge, who knows what horrors are yet to be found in the ocean’s depths!”

  “And you still cannot swim?”, she asked.

  “I figured one try was enough for a lifetime - although I was envious of how easily you and your sisters were able to tame the river without a care in the world.”

  “Draining our cups, we finished the remaining refreshments and completed our tour of the garden - stopping off on our way to thank the staff.”

  “Parting at the door I said my farewells and returned to the stables where I found the carter patiently waiting for me.”

  “As we turned to leave the estate, young Flotsam ran up beside the cart and handed me a note, then waved us off.”