J94 CHAPTER XXVI. 



welcomes you in the hall of the hotel. It presides 

 over the table d'hote, and awaits you on the verandah. 

 As you make your purchase in a shop, it stands on 

 the counter at your elbow ; and when you enter the 

 cafe", you see it reflected in the mirror with the bottles 

 of vermouth and amer. 



The Aspidistra overhears all the scandals that 

 are whispered in every salon of the Riviera, and sees 

 every coin that you venture on the red or on the 

 black. This long-suffering plant patronises every 

 bazaar and shows no sign of being bored ; it is present 

 at every prayer-meeting, and, for aught I know, at 

 the functions of the ritualists. If you call upon a 

 friend, the Aspidistra guards the staircase ; and if the 

 cruel Fates compel you to consult your doctor, the 

 leafy sentinel looks callously upon you from the table 

 of the waiting room : 



" Heu, loca felici non adeunda viro !" 



The reason is not far to seek why this Chinese 

 plant should be so much employed and such a 

 universal favourite, both at home and abroad. It can 

 endure a great deal of hardship and neglect ; being 

 tres resistant, presque sans soins il se comporte toujours 

 bien. What a grand thing it is to be tres resistant ! 

 A tough constitution enables the Aspidistra, as it 

 does many men, to dispense with every other quality. 



I said that this plant appears to have no stem, 

 but if you look closer you will see the stock from 

 which the leaves proceed. There is, roughly speaking, 

 no flowering plant without a stem. Even the dande- 

 lion (Taraxacum) has a stem, though it is shortened 

 to a disc. 



