"Imagine my exasperation when he stammered, shook all over, and began mechanically, ’Yes, madam, it is the _Lilium Philadelphium_, the red, wood, flame, or Philadelphia Lily. Flowers: erect, tawny, or red-tinted, outside: vermilion or sometimes reddish orange, and spotted with madder brown within; one to five on separate peduncles, borne at the summit. Periant of six distincts, spreading spatulate segments, each narrowing into a claw and with a nectar groove at the base: six stamens: one style; the club-shaped stigma three-lobed. Stem: one to three feet tall, from a bulb composed of narrow jointed fleshy scales. Leaves: in whorls of threes to eights, lance-shaped, sealed at intervals on the stem. Preferred habitat: dry-woods, sandy soil, borders and thickets; flower season, June and July; distribution, Northern border United States and westward to Ontario, south to the Carolinas and Virginia!’ "He said it all like a parrot, looking up at the wisteria vine. Jack, I saw that I must fight hard to save him. ’Dear heart,’ I said, holding his hand, ’don’t you think you need someone always with you to take care of you, cook your meals, nurse you? I fear you are sick now, darling,’ I added, laying my head on his bosom. "I could feel his heart panting like a trip-hammer. I saw him wince, struggle, grit his teeth, as one who tries to overcome a terrible thing, fighting for mastery of his mind; and then, Jack—I was so mad I could have choked him! That terrible disease! "’Yes—Lucretia—dear—Miss—er—Miss Lucretia, I mean—do you think I could hire some good old woman who—ah—whom would you suggest?’ "’I could suggest a great many, Gott, I said, my arm around him; ’but I will suggest only one. _I_ need a husband for my old age, and _you_,’ I said, ’darling,’ and I put one arm around his neck. "He shivered, paled, and I thought he was dying; but I went on, ’Gott—you dear, old Gott—I have loved you a long time, but I’ve been too busy to tell you so; but now, dear sweetheart, I want to make you my wife—I mean, Gott, my husband, of course, and—and—kiss me, Gott; kiss me, dearie!’ "Oh, Jack, the divinity of it! I am ashamed of all I have said before! Tear down that pedigree from your wall! Forget all I’ve said about marrying people off like animals—about improving the breed—about anything but love—love—love. For, when my lips touched his, life grew different! I had never felt it before! From that moment I was in love—divinely, gloriously in love! "He keeled over, of course. It all but killed him. It was the crisis of the disease of thirty years’ standing, but I had my nerve with me, and when he came to he was so bashful and happy, Jack. He said shyly, ’But, darling Lucretia, don’t you think our parents might object; wouldn’t it be romantic if we ran away?’ "And we did, Jack, that very night. I had him put a ladder up to his bed room window, and that night I slipped out, brought him down the ladder, and we ran off to town and were married!