"Oh! I see you are versed in the language of flowers. Does it form part of the education of an engineer?"
"No, but it does of every young man. Thank you, Miss Pethram. Two red roses and no white one, that means double love. The love of a girl for a boy, two buds; of a woman for a man, full blown blossoms."
"Why do you not say the love of a man for a woman?"
"Eh! ah, well you know, ladies first always. Let me ask you to put these two red rosebuds in my coat."
Kaituna hesitated a moment, and looked down at the green grass, seeking for some excuse. None feasible enough came into her mind, so, still with downcast eyes, she took the flowers from his outstretched hand and placed them in his coat. He was taller than she, and could just espy her face flushing under the broad-brimmed straw hat, and she must have felt the devouring passion of his eyes instinctively, for her hands busied with the flowers trembled.
"You have given me no white rose, I see," said Archie, in an unsteady voice, "so I am not compelled to keep silence. May I speak?"
"No--no--oh, no!"
She had finished fastening those obstinate flowers with a pin, and they had revenged themselves by wounding her finger with a thorn.
"Oh! Oh!"
"Miss Pethram, what's the matter? Oh, have you hurt your finger?"