Scattered over the dull olive ground of the carpet, clustering and
nodding from the wall-paper, peeping from the folds of the curtains, the
forget-me-nots are everywhere. Even the creamy surface of the toilet-jug
and bowl, even the ivory backs of the brushes that lie on the
blue-covered toilet table, bear each its cluster of pale-blue blossoms;
while the low easy-chair in which the girl is reclining, and the pretty
sofa with its plump cushions inviting to repose, repeat the same tale.
The tale is again repeated, though in a different way, by a scroll
running round the top of the wall, on which in letters of blue and gold
is written at intervals: "Ne m'oubliez pas!" "Vergiss mein nicht!" "Non
ti scordar!" and the same sentiment is repeated in Spanish, Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew, of all which tongues the fond father possessed
knowledge.
Is not this indeed a bower, wherein a girl ought to be happy? the bird
in the window thinks his blue and gold cage the finest house in the
world, and sings as heartily and cheerily as if he had been in the wide
green forest; but his mistress does not sing. She sits in the
easy-chair, with a book upside-down in her lap, and frowns,--actually
frowns, in a forget-me-not bower! There is not much the matter, really.
Her head aches, that is all. Her German lesson has been longer and
harder than usual, and her father was quite right about the caramels;
there is a box of them on the table now, within easy reach of the slim
white hand with its forget-me-not ring of blue turquoises.
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