he was not aware that,
however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her
dearest sentiments for the end.

In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention
two kinds of seed,--those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and
the spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said,
"produces a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to
conceal itself beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its
wide-spreading perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown
by the border of the fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The
scabious," she added, "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a
black ground spotted with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and
for this reason it is also called the widow's flower. It grows best in
bleak spots, beaten by the winds." She begged him to sow this upon the
rock where she had spoken to him at night for the last time, and that,
in remembrance of her, he would henceforth give it the name of the Rock
of Adieus.

She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when
he saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the beautiful
hair which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.

The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of
this amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of
the little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought
proper; and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since
her departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.

Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and mingle
together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as she had
blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some fruit from
the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity telling her,
that he would not add any of the other productions of the island, that
the desire of seeing them again might hasten her return. He conjured her
to comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family, and
above all, with his own, since he could never hereafter taste happiness
away from her.

Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the
viol