"Lady Vera, do you know that you are very cruel to that poor rose?" he asks.
"Am I? I did not mean to be," she answers, gently, looking down at the torn petals strewing her lap. "I did not really think what I was doing."
"You had better give it to me, I will care for it more tenderly," he pursues.
"Not this, but a sweeter one," she answers, with a beating heart.
Her white hands flutter over the vase a moment, and she selects a lovely scarlet one just opening into perfect bloom.
Bending her head with regal grace, she touches the rose to the crimson flower of her lips and holds it toward him.
Something in the strange significance of the action strikes him oddly. An eager, impetuous speech springs to his lips, but Miss Montgomery, who has seen the rose given, comes hastily up to them, interrupting him.
"Lord Gordon has been telling me of those beautiful new engravings. May I look at them, Lady Vera, if I do not interrupt your tete-a-tete?" she asks with sweet unconsciousness.
"Certainly. Pray take my seat," Lady Vera answers with icy coldness, moving away.
Captain Lockhart is about to follow her when the fair marplot claims his assistance in adjusting the stereoscope to the right focus.