flowers — aren't those lovely? This bunch came to-day, 'for
Miss Evelyn', so Florence will have it it is hers, and it's
very mean of her, for I am perfectly certain it is mine; it's
come from somebody who wasn't enlightened on the subject of my
family circle, and has innocently imagined that two Miss
Evelyns could not belong to the same one! I know the floral
representatives of all Florence's dear friends and admirers,
and this isn't from any of them. I have been distractedly
endeavouring all day to find who it came from, for if I don't,
I can't take the least comfort in it."

"But you might enjoy the flowers for their own sake, I should
think," said Fleda, breathing the sweetness of myrtle and
heliotrope.

"No, I can't, for I have all the time the association of some
horrid creature they might have come from, you know; but it
will do just as well to humbug people: I shall make Cornelia
Schenck believe that this came from my dear Mr. Carleton!"

"No, you wont, Constance," said Fleda, gently.

"My dear little Fleda, I shock you, don't I? but I sha'n't
tell any lies; I shall merely expressively indicate a
particular specimen, and say, 'My dear Cornelia, do you
perceive that this is an English rose?' and then it's none of
my business, you know, what she believes; and she will be
dying with curiosity and despair all the rest of the evening."

"I shouldn't think there would be much pleasure in that, I