"How lucky," said Lady Mabel, in a congratulatory tone, "that you have
since found out that this wine is made of sour grapes."

A faint suspicion that she was laughing at him induced him to change
the topic. "You were never abroad before, I believe. This part of the
country has some drawbacks; but I think you will find it, during the
winter, a very pleasant part of the world."

"We will all endeavor to make it so to you, Lady Mabel," said Major
Warren, who, impatient of his superior's monopoly, here tried to edge
in a word. But the colonel cut him short with "That's a mere truism,
Warren, a self-evident proposition. Let us have nothing more of that
sort. One of the peculiarities of this climate, Lady Mabel, is that it
has a double spring: one in February and another in April. Then we
will see you take your appropriate place in the picture, representing
the heyday of youth in the midst of spring, and beauty, surrounded by
flowers."

She bowed low, in suppressing a laugh at this elaborate compliment,
and said, "Will spring be so soon upon us?"

"In a fortnight you may gather the same flowers which at home you must
wait for till May."

"Not the same flowers," said she, quickly. "Portugal has a Flora
peculiar to itself, embracing very few of our native British plants. I
am on my strong ground on this topic, being a pupil of Dr. Graham, who
relieves his graver studies by striving to rival King Solomon in the
knowledge of plants, 'from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that
grows on the wall.' I am pledged to carry home a vast _hortus siccus_