45 



THE ROMANCE OF LADY " CLARISSIMA 



Some time in the late summer o a Mr. Moule, 



one of our early Fern pioneers, rambling through some 

 of the mossy dells, ferny woods, combes, or lanes of the 

 glorious domain of North Devon, already renowned for the 

 many marvels of ferny beauty which Dame Nature had 

 vouchsafed to the fern hunters of that period, was 

 suddenly entranced by the perception of an extraordinarily 

 charming Lady Fern of such delicate and slender beauty 

 that he determined at once to transport it, or we will 

 rather say "her," to grace still further his bevy of beauties 

 which it is to be assumed he had already accumulated in 

 his home domain. It would seem, however, that ravishing 

 as the beauty of this gentle dame undoubtedly was, her 

 discoverer was either already so blase with the beauteous 

 attractions of his previous acquisitions of the Lady per- 

 suasion, or that he was singularly oblivious of the extra 

 attention which his latest capture not only merited but 

 vitally needed, since, though the day was dry and the sun 

 blazing hot, and his prize already in a fainting condition 

 when he reached his home, he left the poor thing reclining 

 on a bench in the full sun, not even vouchsafing her a 

 draught of refreshing water. As a consequence, her 

 fainting fit was rapidly passing into a state of coma 

 as a preliminary to absolute dissolution, when at this 

 vital juncture romance stepped forward in the shape 

 of a visitor, that well-known and gallant soldier, Col. 

 A. M. Jones, who, as a recognised squire of dames of the 

 ferny persuasion, rushed to the rescue, and at once 

 appreciated not only the exceptional charms of the 

 lady before him, but also the instant need of some 

 restorative to prevent the threatened collapse due to 

 the neglect to which the delicate creature had been 

 so cruelly exposed. Being friends, no battle royal, but 

 an entirely peaceful, though presumably reproachful, 



