Page:A Virgin Heart.pdf/73

Rh We'll have that up and put a magnolia grandiﬂora there. You want an English garden, don't you? An English garden oughtn't to contain anything but exotic plants. Lilacs and roses... Why not snow-ball trees? Ah, there's a nice spotted holly. We might use that perhaps."

"I don't want anyone to touch my trees," said Rose, who had drawn near.

"She's right," said M. Des Boys.

"Think of pulling up lilacs," Rose went on, "pulling up rose-trees."

"But I mean to put prettier ﬂowers in their place, Mademoiselle."

"The prettiest ﬂowers are the ones I like best."

She picked a red rose and put it to her lips, kissing it as though it were something sacred and adored.

M. Des Boys looked at his daughter with astonishment.

"Well, M. Encoignard, we must do what she wants. Hervart, what do you think about it?"

"I think that one ought to leave nature as unkempt as possible. I also think that one ought to love the plants of the country where