“You mean the marsh marigold.”
“Perhaps so, but it is very different from the marigold of the garden. The leaves”--
Bramber laughed. “Now you are going to teach me to distinguish. You are quite right--that water-drinker is not a marigold at all. But country people give it that name because it is the great golden flower that blooms at or about Lady Day, and the lady is the Virgin Mary. Now consider. The celandine has sharply-pointed petals. Do you see the difference between them and those of the golden water-drinker?”
“I see this clearly now.”
“He who wrote those verses about the daffodils has written three poems on the celandine.”
“What! on these little flowers?”
Kate coloured with delight and surprise.
“Yes, and very beautiful they are. I will reserve them for another day. You have enough to think about in the lines on the daffodils.”
“How did the man who wrote them know of my illness, and how I dreamed and troubled about the daffodils?”
“He knew nothing of you.”