As she stood up, a great clump of flowering shrubs--guelder roses, pink thorn, azaleas--made a pretty and variegated background. She had drawn off her big gloves, and was beating the earth from them as she spoke, and smiling down upon him with bright pleasantness. Anthony looked at her, and a satisfied expression deepened in his eyes. He had hold of one of the ribbons of her dress, and was fingering it. "Why don't you always wear lilac?" was his somewhat irrelevant answer. "You don't attend to what I am saying," said Winifred, a little impatiently. "I want to know what you think of the flowers, and not of my dress." "Why should I not talk about that as well? You have at least as much to do with the one as the other." "It is not what I have to do with it, but how it looks when it is done. Marion, can't you prevent Anthony from being frivolous?" "Don't ask Marion," said Anthony, biting a bit of grass. "She has been falling foul of me all the way here, though neither of us can exactly say what it has been about. My ruffled feathers want smoothing down, if you please, Winifred." "You don't look ruffled a bit." "That is my extraordinary amiability." "Marion did very well to scold you, I am sure." "And that is the way women jump at conclusions." "I shall jump at the conclusion presently that you mean to go to sleep on the grass, and leave us to walk to the Red House alone." "I? I am ready to start this moment, and the time you have supposed to be wasted I have spent in making up my mind that a mass of amaranthus ought to replace the verbenas in that bed." "Amaranthus! O Anthony, they would be so gloomy." "Just the effect you want, when everything is too flaming." "No, no," said Winifred, resolutely holding her ground. "You must find your relief at the back, for the flowers themselves can't be too bright." "Now, Winifred, there are certain principles," began Anthony, sitting upright and speaking energetically, "principles of contrast, by means of which you get a great deal more out of your brilliancy than when you run one colour into the other. I wish you would let me explain them to you." "Understanding the principles would never make me doubt my eyes. No, indeed, I am very sorry, but I could not sacrifice those splendid verbenas after watering them for so many evenings." "You should not water at all." Winifred looked at him, laughed, and shook her head. "I don't mean to give way to these horrible new theories. To begin with, they would break Thomas's heart." "O, very well," said Anthony, getting up, affronted. "Did you say you were ready to start? Marion! We are waiting."