After my walk with Yoletta--if it can be called a walk--I began to look
out for the rainbow lilies, and soon discovered that everywhere under
the grass they were beginning to sprout from the soil. At first I found
them in the moist valley of the river, but very soon they were equally
abundant on the higher lands, and even on barren, stony places, where
they appeared latest. I felt very curious about these flowers, of which
Yoletta had spoken so enthusiastically, and watched the slow growth of
the long, slender buds from day to day with considerable impatience. At
length, in a moist hollow of the forest, I was delighted to find the
full-blown flower. In shape it resembled a tulip, but was more open, and
the color a most vivid orange yellow; it had a slight delicate perfume,
and was very pretty, with a peculiar waxy gloss on the thick petals,
still, I was rather disappointed, since the name of "rainbow lily," and
Yoletta's words, had led me to expect a many-colored flower of
surpassing beauty.
I plucked the lily carefully, and was taking it home to present it to
her, when all at once I remembered that only on one occasion had I seen
flowers in her hand, and in the hands of the others, and that was when
they were burying their dead.
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