"The carcara is in fault," she said; "but I don't think Eunane is. In
learning cookery at school she had her materials supplied to her; this
time the _carve_ has probably given her an unripe or overripe fruit
which has spoiled the whole."
"And do you not know ripe from unripe fruit?" I inquired, turning to
Eunane.
"How should she?" interposed Eveena. "I doubt if she ever saw them
growing."
"How so?" I asked of Eunane.
"It is true," she answered. "I never went beyond the walls of our
playground till I came here; and though there were a few flower-beds
in the inner gardens, there were none but shade trees among the turf
and concrete yards to which we were confined."
"I should have known no better," observed Eveena; "but being brought
up at home, I learned to know all the plants in my father's grounds,
which were more various, I believe, than usual."
"Then," I said, "Eunane has a new life and a multitude of new
pleasures before her. Has this peristyle given you your first sight of
flowers beyond those in the beds of your Nursery? And have you never
seen anything of the world about you?"
"Never," she said.
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