“You do not know,” continued Charles, after watching her downcast eyelids and flitting color for some minutes, “that I saw the remains of that bunch of flowers, scattered, soiled, withered, floating on the water two days afterward. I tried to secure the peristeria, which I should have valued for the associations connected with it. It was near the bank, and I could see one snowy dove, sitting on her little nest, unsoiled and peaceful. I tried to grasp it; but I failed, and not only plunged my own feet into a treacherous hole, from which I had some difficulty in escaping, but pushed the flower itself under water, and it did not rise again!” “It was hardly worth the risk,” said Hilary; “you, who have so many fair flowers in your own houses, should have allowed those which accident had scattered on the water to float on, until they became the prize of a less wealthy individual.” “Had they been mine still, or rather, had they never had another owner, been pressed by another hand, I might have done so, Miss Duncan,” was his significant answer. “I still think it was not worth the risk,” replied Hilary, quietly; “but we are told that we may learn lessons from every thing, and certainly life is full of emblems, if we do but read them right.” “I know how fanciful you are, Miss Duncan,” replied he, in a lighter tone; “what moral would you deduce from this incident for my benefit?” She hesitated a little; seeing which, he added more gravely, “Nay, do tell me; since I lost the flower I coveted, let me profit by the loss in some way; do not let that pretty dove-blossom have sunk uselessly beneath the waters; tell me of what it is the emblem!” “No, excuse me,” replied Hilary, seriously, “I can not undertake to give lessons in morality to you.” And then, turning away decidedly, she raised her voice to address Victoria, who was just reading a note, which she had found waiting for her on her return. Perhaps Miss Fielding did not think the countenances of the other two indicated that their conversation could be prolonged with benefit to themselves; for she came forward almost immediately, and suggesting that luncheon must be ready, led the way to the dining-room. The carriage was ordered round, as soon as the meal was concluded, and Hilary, who had been on a mental rack, while obliged to undergo the pointed civilities, and the overpowering assiduities of both cousins, began to breathe more freely, in the hope of escaping to a more genial atmosphere, and putting a continually increasing space between the soft voice and half-reproachful dark eyes which now followed her so tenderly.