“Then, my boy,” said his father, “it should be our constant desire, so to pass each day and hour as that the retrospect may, at least, give us no cause for pain.” “I think we shall all be very happy to-day; do not you, dear aunt?” asked Helen. Mrs. Ashton smiled as she repeated: “Say, is this a time to be gloomy and sad, When all nature is smiling around; When even the deep blue heavens look glad, And joy springs from the blossoming ground?” “This may well be called ‘blossoming ground,’” said Helen. “Look, aunt, there is my favourite little ivy-leaved campanula, and the star-thistle in abundance.” “Yes,” replied her aunt, “and if I mistake not, you will find on the hill-side, near the Dyke, the musk-ophrys, which you were wishing for, to put in your herbal, and some species of orchis.” “Helen,” said Lewis, “if you care so much for such common weeds as these, I wonder what you would say to the plant captain Manning told us about the other day, with blossoms as large as—let me see—as large round as the flower-bed before your parlour-window: you would be puzzled to get an herbal huge enough for such a giant-specimen.” “I think,” said Helen, good-humouredly, “I should say that you and captain Manning were laughing at me.” “Well, then, if you are so unbelieving,” replied Lewis, “ask papa; I suppose you can trust him.” Mr. Ashton happened to have in his pocket, the number of the Penny Magazine which contained an account of this curious plant; and he read it to the wondering Helen:— “In 1818, Doctor Arnold discovered, in the island of Sumatra, a flower which he named _Rafflesia Arnoldi_; and which an author has called with much justice, ‘the magnificent Titan of the vegetable kingdom.’ The human mind, indeed, had never conceived such a flower: the circumference of the full-expanded flower is nine feet, its _nectarium_ is calculated to hold nine pints, the pistils are as large as cows’-horns, and the entire weight of the flower is calculated to be fifteen pounds.” “Look, look, Helen!” exclaimed Edward, as soon as his father had ceased to read, “there must be a rabbit-warren near. There they go; two, three, four rabbits; and there are two men with guns on their shoulders coming up the side of the hill. Papa, I do wonder any one can like to make such a disturbance among the poor little creatures, just for their own amusement: it would be much more diverting to me, I am sure, to see them gambol and frolic over these green hillocks. Ah, there are their pretty young ones, running as fast as their little legs will carry them, by the side of their mother.” “Run, run, little ones!” cried Helen, forgetting the wonderful flower, in her anxiety for the rabbits. “Now they have popped into a hole; but, oh! I am afraid it is of no use, for those sportsmen have a dog with them, and they will be sure to catch some of the innocent creatures.” “Helen,” asked Lewis, archly, “do you never eat rabbit-pie when it comes to table?”