CHAPTER XII. 



CONCERNING ROSE-SHOWS. 



When that delightful young officer of her Majesty's Guards 

 paid a guinea, no long time ago in London, to the great 

 spiritualist, medium, or whatever the arch-humbug called 

 himself, of the season, and when, after a lengthened com- 

 munication with the spirit of his departed mother, he looked 

 at his watch, and courteously apologised for his abrupt 

 exodus, "but he had promised to lunch with the lady in 

 question punctually at two o'clock," he completely demol- 

 ished the baseless fabric of my little dream, how charming 

 it would be to have an hour's table-talk with some of our 

 old Rosarians. 



I am with them, nevertheless, and without humbug, in 

 spirit many a time, honouring their memories, and always 

 re<^ardine them with a thankful filial love. I like to think 

 of them among their Roses, as I wander among my own, 



