THE WARS OF THE ROSES 333 



company with each other. One went in the 

 morning, and the other in the afternoon. It 

 came about, therefore, that the list of varieties 

 which each made up as a result of their visits to 

 the far-famed Rose Show differed considerably, 

 and The Wars of the Roses had entered upon their 

 second stage. The plot had been hatched, and 

 the machinery was now being set in motion. 



Both met after visiting the Show, giving each 

 other their opinions, but jealously refusing to 

 divulge the actual list of varieties of Roses chosen ! 



There was no doubt about it. Smith and Brown 

 had caught the Rose fever, and had got the com- 

 plaint rather acutely. All they could talk of was 

 Roses; it was Roses, Roses, Roses, all the way. 



Ardent politicians at normal times. Smith and 

 Brown discarded the political arena when the 

 first signs of the Rose fever made itself felt. It 

 reminds me of that excellent little tale, so admir- 

 ably told, by the Rev. Foster-Melliar in his de- 

 lightful Book of the Rose^ and the incident is worth 

 recalling here. On a dull, bleak day in January, 

 a small shooting party met for Partridge-driving. 

 Amongst the " guns " were two gentlemen who 

 lived some distance from one another, and did not, 

 as a consequence, meet very often. During the 

 driving, it was noticed that these two " guns " 

 were continually talking with great gusto, ever 

 and anon cutting pieces from the hedgerow and 



