FLORAL CONVERSA TION. 3.3 
assist her in disbelieving. They said it was simply im¬ 
possible. * * * Finally, after reiterating for 
the (as nearly as I can guess) forty-second time, that I had 
seen nothing, they implored, they insisted, that I should 
never reveal to living creature that which I had seen ; and 
I gave them at last my promise to keep a secret, which 
nothing upon earth could have tempted me to tell. * * 
The marriage morning came. On the day preceding I 
had decorated the church as sorrowfully almost as though 
it had been for her funeral, and at sunrise I had arranged 
a bouquet ; it was composed of Stephanotis, Pancratium, 
Gardenia, and white-rose buds, which I had mourned over 
as if for her coffin. “ And so,” I sighed to myself, “ the 
leaf went, and the lover came ; and yet there was neither 
help nor hope.” 
The events of the day, as we ascertained afterwards, 
were these : you will see that they require no commentary. 
The party at the castle was to assemble in the library at 
II a. m.; to leave the castle at 11:15, and to meet the 
Viscount at the church. 
At 9 a. m., Lady Alice’s favorite cousin, and chief 
brides-maid, went to see her, and was met at her dressing- 
room door by Phyllis, who told the young lady that her 
