22 THE SNOW DROP. 



She then burst into tears, and told mc that her 

 passion for flowers was as great as even mine • 

 that it was Frederick's daily task, when in India, 

 to go out every morning and cull liie most splendid 

 blossoms of that glowing clime, which he always 

 arranged in her boudoir, and upon her beloved 

 piano, with as much care as he bestowed on his 

 military duties. The h)ng voyage had sep;iralcd 

 her from the world of flower:? during his illness: 

 and when, afier leaving him in the depllis of 

 ocean, she first beheld those smiling remem- 

 brances, such a horror took possession of her poor 

 lacerated mind, that, as she solemnly assured me, 

 she would rather have taken the most noisome 

 reptile into her hand than a rose. \\)liuitarily, 

 slie never entered a g^irden ; l)ecause of the al- 

 most unconquerable desire that she felt to trample 

 every flower into the earth. She had struggled 

 and prayed against this : it was a species of de- 

 lirium over which time seemed to have no power; 

 and it was to avoid a task so torturing that she had 

 eng.'^JTcd my attention for hours, in the hope of 

 my r>rgeiiinfj it until after her depnrture. ' When 

 I kneeled down before the ch.iir,' said the sweet 

 mourner, * I prayed that the sense of all your love 

 toward me might prevail over my dreadful reluct- 

 ance ; and it did.' Then, after a pause she added, 

 with another burst of tears, ' I don't think I could 

 have done it, if you h.id not loved Frederick !* 



