SCENE II.


_An Apartment in Bannote Castle._

_Footmen bringing in Baskets of Flowers._

_Miss O'HARA and Sir WILLIAM HAMDEN._

_Clara._ Now, my dear uncle, I want to consult you.

_Sir W._ And welcome, my child. But if it is about flowers, you could not
consult a worse person, for I scarcely know a rose from a ----. What is
this you have here--a thistle?

_Clara._ Yes, sir; and that is the very thing I want your opinion about.

_Sir W._ Well, my dear, all I know about thistles, I think, is, that asses
love thistles--will that do?

_Clara._ Oh, no, sir--pray be serious, for I am in the greatest hurry to
settle how it is all to be. You know it is St. Patrick's day.

_Sir W._ Yes, and here is plenty of shamrock, I see.

_Clara._ Yes, here is the shamrock--the rose, the ever blowing rose--and