92 THE FLOWERS

low, and falling on one knee, in a manner
which I thought exceedingly graceful, raised
her lovely eyes to the lady, and said, “Ah,
Madame, could I wear that crown, I should
prove to all here assembled, what is but tco
true, that I have not deserved it. I desire, in-
deed, to be like the lily; but I am not so. I
know my own heart ; I know that it is full of
evil passions, and if I do not betray these evil
passions so often as I feel them, it is not to my
own strength I dare to give the glory. My
dear lady, I implore you, do not put the crown
upon my head.”

There was a dead silence in the assembly ;
every one was impressed with a solemn feel-
ing: at length it was broken by the lady, who
said, whilst holding the myrtle wreath over
the head of the kneeling child, “ Aimée, my
beloved, indeed you must not resist our united
entreaties ; you must submit to wear the ho-
nour you have so justly merited.”

“Ah, no, lady, lady dear!” she replied,
lifting up her face as she knelt, with a sweet
and unaffected earnestness; “no, no! it
cannot be;” and at the same time gently
removing the garland of lilies from her