"Let me fasten this in your coat, Sir Edgar. No gentleman looks
completely dressed without a flower. You do not know what heliotrope
means. Men never--or, at least, very seldom--care for the sweetest of
all languages--the language of flowers. What that heliotrope means,
cousin, I say to you."

It was not until some weeks afterward that, looking quite accidentally
over an old book, I discovered the spray of heliotrope meant, "I love
you."

The beautiful picture of this fair, passionate woman died from my mind
as I went to seek one a thousand times more fair. How well I remember
the day--the golden sunshine, the fragrant wind, the blooming flowers,
as I rode forth to win my love! It seemed to me that the summer skies
smiled on me, and the singing birds wished me joy.

The way to Harden Manor lay through green, flowery lanes and a shady
highroad. It seemed long because my heart sighed to be with her; yet
short because I was so uncertain what to say, and how my wooing would
end.

I reached the manor at last. Sir John was from home. Lady Thesiger and
Agatha were busily engaged in making pretty fancy articles for a grand
fancy fair that was to be held--for the benefit of some out-of-the-way
people--by special permission of His Grace the Duke of Fairholme in the
grounds of Fairholme Castle.

Lady Thesiger looked up when I entered, with a smile.