man, I know, and I think a man would almost as lief be thought
wicked as weak. Thee can't help being weakly-inclined, and it's only
right that thee should be careful of thyself. There's surely nothing in
that that thee need be ashamed of."

While thus speaking, Asenath moderated her walk, in order, unconsciously
to her companion, to restrain his steps.

"Oh, there are the dog's-tooth violets in blossom?" she exclaimed,
pointing to a shady spot beside the brook; "does thee know them?"

Richard immediately gathered and brought to her a handful of the nodding
yellow bells, trembling above their large, cool, spotted leaves.

"How beautiful they are!" said he; "but I should never have taken them
for violets."

"They are misnamed," she answered. "The flower is an Erythronium; but
I am accustomed to the common name, and like it. Did thee ever study
botany?"

"Not at all. I can tell a geranium, when I see it, and I know a
heliotrope by the smell. I could never mistake a red cabbage for a
rose, and I can recognize a hollyhock or a sunflower at a considerable
distance. The wild flowers are all strangers to me; I wish I knew
something about them."

"If thee's fond of flowers, it would be very easy to learn. I think a
study of this kind would pleasantly occupy thy mind. Why couldn't thee
try? I would be very willing to teach thee what little I know. It's not
much, indeed, but all thee wants is a start. See, I will show thee how
simple the principles are."

Taking one of the flowers from the bunch, Asenath, as they slowly walked
forward, proceeded to dissect it, explained the mysteries of stamens and
pistils, pollen, petals, and calyx, and, by the time they had reached
the village, had succeeded in giving him a general idea of the Linnaean
system of classification. His mind took hold of the subject with a
prompt and profound interest. It was a new and wonderful world which
suddenly opened before him. How surprised he was to learn that there
were signs by which a poisonous herb could be detected from a wholesome
one, that cedars and pine-trees blossomed, that the gray lichens on
the rocks belonged to the vegetable kingdom! His respect for Asenath's
knowledge thrust quite out of sight the restraint which her youth and
sex had imposed upon him. She was teacher, equal, friend; and the simple
candid manner which was the natural expression of her dignity and purity
thoroughly harmonized with this relation.

Although, in realit