"Mamma," said Constance, "the mention of that name rouses all the bitter feelings I am capable of. My dear Fleda, we have been friends; but if I see you abstracting my English rose "
"Look at those roses behind you!" said Fleda.
The young lady turned and sprang at the word, followed by both her sisters; and for some moments nothing but a hubbub of exclamations filled the air.
"Joe, you are enchanting! But did you ever see such flowers?
Oh, those rose-buds!"
"And these camellias," said Edith; "look, Florence, how they are cut with such splendid long stems!"
"And the roses, too all of them see, Mamma, just cut from the bushes, with the buds all left on, and immensely long stems! Mamma, these must have cost an immensity!"
"That is what I call a bouquet," said Fleda, fain to leave the table, too, and draw near the tempting show in Florence's hand.
"This is the handsomest you have had all winter, Florence," said Edith.
"Handsomest! I never saw anything like it. I shall wear some of these to-night, Mamma."
"You are in a great hurry to appropriate it," said Constance; "how do you know but it is mine?"