"
"You'll see very few trees here; only olives and ilex."
"The ilex I know, and there is no more beautiful tree than the ilex."
"Were not the crocuses that grew
Under that ilex tree,
As beautiful in scent and hue
As ever fed the bee?"
"Whose verses are those?"
"Shelley's. I know no others. Are the lines very wonderful? They seem
no more than a statement, yet they hang about my memory. I am glad I
shall see the ilex tree."
"And the eucalyptus--plenty of eucalyptus trees."
"That was the scent that followed us this morning as we came through
the gardens."
"Yes, as we passed from our hotel one hung over the garden wall, and
the wind carried its scent after us."
The arrival of the waiter with _hors d'oeuvres_ distracted our
attention from the olive tree to its fruit, I rarely touch olives, but
that morning I ate many. Should we have mutton cutlets or lamb? Doris
said the Southern mutton was detestable. "Then we'll have lamb." An
idea came into my head, and it was this, that I had been mistaken
about Doris's beauty. Hers was not like any face that one may find in
a panel by Memline. She was like something, but I could not lay my
thoughts on what she was like.
"A sail would spoil the beauty of the bay," I said when the waiter
brought in the coffee, and left us--we hoped for the last time.
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