"Thank you. How beautifully you have arranged them! But the Camellia, why not place it with the rest?"
"I thought you would wear it in your hair as you did the other evening. Is it not beautiful? so purely white."
"Mason has taken out this Italian spray," and she took up an elegant silver ornament of Maltese work, "but I do not intend wearing it, neither can I this lovely Camellia; kindly place it amongst the other flowers you have arranged so nicely," and she gave the bouquet into Amy's hand.
"What a thousand pities, Ma'am!" said Mason. "It would look beautiful; far better than the ornament."
"Tastes differ," replied her mistress. "Thank you, Miss Neville, that will do very nicely; I thought, or rather feared, you would have to take the bouquet to pieces, but you have managed it admirably."
"I had not secured the flowers so very tightly, or perhaps the string had become loose."
"How tiresome the weather is, keeping so very cold; everyone seems out of temper with it, and must find Brampton especially dull. I am sure I scarcely know what to suggest as an amusement by way of novelty. Can you think of anything, Miss Neville? for I have exhausted all my ideas."
"I cannot imagine how any one can find it dull here," replied Amy, "so many to talk to, and so much to do."