Book 2, Chapter 21: “I Never Have Loved Any One but You!”

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​⁠Therese was dressed in sombre gray. The bushes on the border of the terrace were covered with silver stars and on the hillsides the laurel-trees threw their odoriferous flame. The cup of Florence was in bloom.

Vivian Bell walked, arrayed in white, in the fragrant garden.

“You see, darling, Florence is truly the city of flowers, and it is not inappropriate that she should have a red lily for her embl