"Dare! Nonsense! Pluck it if you wish."
"I thought it was forbidden to touch the flowers here!"
"So it is," said Georgina, snapping off the rose, one of the variegated species, and a great beauty. "But I do as I please. I would pluck all the flowers in the garden for two pins, just to see the old gardener's dismay."
"What would the visitors say to you?"
"Bow to me, and wish they dare perform such feats. Pshaw! I am the dean's daughter. Here, Harry, I will make you a present of it."
She threw the rose into his hand as she spoke, and she saw what the gift was to him.
"What shall you do with it, Harry?"
"Had I plucked the rose myself, I should have given it to my mother. I shall keep it now—keep it for ever. I may not," he added, lowering his tone, and speaking, as it were, to himself, "part with your gifts."
Georgina laughed lightly, an encouraging laugh.