“I will ask mamma. No, I'm afraid it can hardly be managed;” and so saying, Mary leant back in her chair and began to pull to pieces some flowers she held in her hand.
“Don't pull them to pieces; give them to me,” said Tom. “I have kept the rosebud you gave me at Oxford folded up in”—
“Which you took, you mean to say. No, I won't give you any of them—or, let me see—yes, here is a sprig of lavender; you may have that.”
“Thank you. But, why lavender?”
“Lavender stands for sincerity. It will remind you of the lecture you gave me.”
“I wish you would forget that. But you know what flowers mean, then? Do give me a lecture; you owe me one. What do those flowers mean which you will not give me,—the piece of heather for instance?”
“Heather signifies constancy.”
“And the carnations?”
“Jealousy.”
“And the heliotrope?”