214 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, 
vided, both at home and abroad, with a fresh Gera- 
nium leaf. On meeting one another, the question 
is Avede il Verde? succeeded by the challenge, 
Fatte vadere il Verde, or Fatte il Verde. The 
person so addressed must immediately show the 
Geranium leaf, and, as a sign that it is fresh, rub it 
against a wall or anything upon which it can leave 
a mark. If it fails to make a green spot, or if the 
party has left it at home, he must either pay the 
specified penalty or pledge himself to do so. Thus, 
too, this engagement gives each a right to enter 
without ceremony the apartment of the other, to rub 
his green leaf against the wall, and to put his play- 
mate to the same test. The game generally lasts for 
some weeks, and is more common among the higher 
classes than the lower. It presupposes an intimate 
acquaintance between the parties, or is designed to 
produce one. An engagement of this kind, there- 
fore, cannot well be concluded with an unmarried 
lady without the consent of her parents, and, as it is 
often a prelude to marriage, it is not decorous for a 
single lady to offer the challenge. The penalties 
are determined by the more or less intimate footing 
upon which the parties stand ; in some cases they 
are kisses, in others sweetmeats or sonnets. Some- 
