“Far more,” replied the baron. “No one in that hall would have mistaken his meaning. It was not just in bad taste, it was insulting and demeaning. He put Sabina in a very awkward and compromising position. No man of integrity would offer a woman a red rose unless she already is, or unless he intends to make her, his wife. It had already been made clear enough to both Gustav and his parents that Sabina was not interested in marrying him, so what he did yesterday was highly offensive. You showed yourself well for standing up for my daughter. I am proud of you, and I thank you.”

“It’s as though the rose has a secret,” said Matthew.

The baron glanced at his wife, and a special smile of significance passed between them. “We’ve always felt that way,” he said. “That is one of the reasons we grow roses and are so fond of them. They contain many secrets, only one of which is the depths they silently speak between the hearts of lifelong lovers. Yet between two who have come to love their multitude of secrets together, the secret the red rose tells is the best one of them all.”

A silence followed.

“Well, I think we’ve ruminated enough about yesterday,” said the baron. “It’s time to put it behind us! And since we’re on the subject of roses, what about a walk to the rose garden and we’ll see what varieties and colors and fragrances happen to be blooming.”

They all got up and left the house together.

49 The Three Parents

49

The Three Parents

“As much as I love your garden, Baron,” said Matthew, “there is something else I have been waiting even more impatiently for.”

An hour had passed. The five of them strolled all the way down to the bottom of Der Frühlingsgarten and back up the other side, pausing for the baron to give them a short tour of his and Marion’s special place, and on to the rose garden, where they now had been sitting for some time chatting freely.

“And what would that be?”

“I want to hear the ancient legend of the house,” he replied. “And now that I can walk and don’t have to drag that cast around behind me, I want to see the cellar again. I want to see if I can find your secret dungeon.”

The baron laughed.

“Good luck! My hat will be off to you if you succeed. I shall be eternally grateful besides. I have been searching for it for years and have finally concluded there is no such place except in the mind of dear old Eppie. Like all of Eppie’s tales, there is more imagination and shadowy fable associated with it than fact.”

“Can we take them to meet Eppie, Papa?” asked Sabina excitedly.

“How is she feeling, Marion?” asked the baron.