wall garlanded, covered, hidden with interwoven
myrtles, fuschias, passion-flowers, clematis, and the silky blossoms
of the grandiflora pea; the beds filled with dahlias, salvias,
calceolarias, and carnations of every hue, with the rich purple and
the pure white petunia, with the many-coloured marvel of Peru, with
the enamelled blue of the Siberian larkspur, with the richly scented
changeable lupine, with the glowing lavatera, the dark-eyed hybiscus,
the pure and alabaster cup of the white Oenothera, the lilac clusters of
the phlox, and the delicate blossom of the yellow sultan, most elegant
amongst flowers;--all these, with a hundred other plants too long to
name, and all their various greens, and the pet weed mignionette growing
like grass in a meadow, and mingling its aromatic odour amongst the
general fragrance--all this sweetness and beauty glowing in the evening
sun, and breathing of freshness and of cool air, came with such a thrill
of delight upon the poor village maiden, who, in spite of her admiration
of London, had languished in its heat and noise and dirt, for the calm
and quiet, the green leaves and the bright flowers of her country home,
that, from the very fulness of her heart, from joy and gratitude and
tenderness and anxiety, she flung her arms round her brother's neck and
burst into tears.

Lucy was usually so calm and self-commanded, that such an ebullition of
feeling from her astonished and affected James Meadows more than any
words, however tender. He pressed her to his heart, and when, following
up the train of her own thoughts,--sure that this kind brother, who had
done so much to please her was himself unhappy, guessing, and longing,
and yet fearing to know the cause,--when Lucy, agitated by such
feelings, ventured to whisper "Hannah?" her brother placing her gently
on the steps leading to the green-house, and leaning himself against the
open door, began in a low and subdued tone to pour out his whole heart
to his sympathising auditress. The story was nearly such as she had been
led to expect from the silence of one party, and the distress of the
other. A rival--a most unworthy rival--had appeared upon the scene; and
James Meadows, besides the fear of losing the lovely creature whom he
had loved so fondly, had the additional grief of believing that the man
whose flatteries had at least gained from her a flattering hearing, was
of all others the least likely to make her respectable and happy.--Much