uite true. Our gardener gave it up in despair. I wonder
what it can be.'

'I think it must be some enchanted prince,' said Ferdinand.

'If I thought so, how I should long for a wand to emancipate him!' said
Miss Temple.

'I would break your wand, if you had one,' said Ferdinand.

'Why?' said Miss Temple.

'Oh! I don't know,' said Ferdinand; 'I suppose because I believe you are
sufficiently enchanting without one.'

'I am bound to consider that most excellent logic,' said Miss Temple.

'Do you admire my fountain and my birds?' she continued, after a short
pause. 'After Armine, Ducie appears a little tawdry toy.'

'Ducie is Paradise,' said Ferdinand. 'I should like to pass my life in
this conservatory.'

'As an enchanted prince, I suppose?' said Miss Temple.

'Exactly,' said Captain Armine; 'I would willingly this instant become a
flower, if I were sure that Miss Temple would cherish my existence.'

'Cut off your tendrils and drown you with a watering-pot,' said Miss
Temple; 'you really are very Sicilian in your conversation, Captain
Armine.'

'Come,' said Mr. Temple, who now joined them, 'if you really should like
to take a stroll round the grounds, I will order the keeper to meet us
at the cottage.'

'A very good proposition,' said Miss Temple.

'But you must get a bonnet, Henrietta; I must forbid your going out
uncovered.'

'No, papa, this will do,' said Miss Temple, taking a handkerchief,
twisting it round her head, and tying it under her chin.

'You look like an old woman, Henrietta,' said her father, smiling.

'I shall not say what you look like, Miss Temple,' said Captain Armine,
with a glance of admiration, 'lest you should think that I was this time
even talking Sicilian.'

'I reward you for your forbearance with a rose,' said Miss Temple,
plucking a flower. 'It is a return for your beautiful present of
yesterday.'

Ferdinand pressed the gift to his lips.

They went forth; they stepped into a Paradise, where the sweetest
flowers seemed grouped in every combination of the choicest forms;
baskets, and vases, and beds of infinite fancy. A thousand bees and
butterflies filled the air with their glancing shapes and cheerful
music, and the birds from the neighbouring groves joined in the chorus
of melody. The wood walks through which they now rambled admitted at
intervals glimpses of the ornate landscape, and occasionally the view
extended beyond the enclosed limits, and exhibited the clusteri