'How they smell!'
Gaston picked up one of the flowers, and crushed it between his
fingers, upon which it gave out a peculiar mousy odour eminently
disagreeable. It was hemlock sure enough, and he wondered how such a
plant had come into Australia.
'Does it grow in your garden?' he asked Martha.
That damsel intimated it did, and offered to show him the plant, so
that he could believe his own eyes.
Vandeloup assented eagerly, and they were soon in the flower garden
at the back of the house, which was blazing with vivid colours, in
the hot glare of the sunshine.
There you are,' said Miss Twexby, pointing to a corner of the garden
near the fence where the plant was growing; 'par brought a lot of
seeds from home, and that beastly thing got mixed up with them. Par
keeps it growing, though, 'cause no one else has got it. It's quite
a curiosity.'
Vandeloup bent down and examined the plant, with its large, round,
smooth, purple-spotted stem--its smooth, shining green leaves, and
the tiny white flowers with their disagreeable odour.
'Yes, it is hemlock,' he said, half to himself; 'I did not know it
could be grown here. Some day, Mademoiselle,' he said, turning to
Miss Twexby and walking back to the house with her, 'I will ask you
to let me have some of the roots of that plant to make an experiment
with.'
'As much as you like,' said the fair Martha, amiably; 'it's a nasty
smelling thing.
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