forgot the sacred fakirs, and the noble lord who preferred
Malmsey wine! He had repeatedly assured Regina Ward that the camelia was
_his_ flower, so proudly beautiful! His soul was 'permeated with
loveliness,' and asked no fragrance. Regina is a great white creature,
lovely to behold, and, perfectly conscious of her perfection, no more
actively charming than the Ino of Foley. He won Milly White's favor by
applauding her love for wild flowers, declaring that a field of
buttercups reminded him of the 'spangled heavens,' and that on summer
days he was constantly envying the cool little Jacks in their green
pulpits.

A pretended Lavater--and there have been such--would have convicted
Snowe at once of the most artful penetration, could he have seen the
lowering curve of his brows as he watched the nervous fluttering of
Henrietta's hands over the pictures, and the decided but softly pleasant
rounding of her white chin. But it was the general unconsciously
powerful indifference of manner, that advised him to prefer, in reply to
her question:

'The snapdragon, yes, beyond the shadow of a doubt. I have an odd
fashion (very odd, Gustav!), Miss Ruyter, of associating ladies with
flowers, and that gorgeous three-bird snapdragon always looks to me like
some brilliant belle, who holds her glittering sceptre and wields it,
capriciously perhaps, but always charmingly.'

'A sort of Helen,' observed Henrietta, calmly.

'A witching, arbitrary, lovely Helen,' promptly returned Snowe, who had
a vague idea of Greek helmets and golden apples, wooden horses, a great
war, and 'all for love.'

Henrietta heard the magnificent vagueness, and became so intently
interested in a view, that Snowe came softly over to my window, and
looked into the garden. Lilly Brennan coming in just then, the
conversation became general, and presently Snowe accompanied her down
the street.

'Fanny,' said Henrietta, with an inquisitorial air, after the girls had
decided that the slides on the bows of Lilly's dress were too small, and
that her 'Bird of Paradise' was lovely enough to fly away with them all,
'Fanny, are you the 'bright, particular star' of that man?'

'I believe so,' said Fanny, with a stare.

'Do you intend to beam on him for any length of time?' persisted
Henrietta.

'I haven't decided,' said Fan, honestly. 'I love beauty, and Landon
Snowe is magnificent.'

'So is the Venus de Medicis,' said Henrietta, fiercely; 'but look at her
spine! Wh