But farther on the current was slower […] causing the little ponds that were fed by the Vivonne to be aflower with water lilies. The river banks were thickly wooded here, and the trees’ deep shade usually turned the depths of the water a dark green, though at times, when we were coming home on calm evenings after a stormy afternoon, the bottom of the pond was a clear, crude blue, almost a violet, like a Japanese-style partitioned floor. Here and there a water lily floated on the surface, with a scarlet centre and white edges, like a blushing strawberry. Farther on, the flowers were more numerous, paler, less glossy, more seeded, folded more tightly, in groups of randomly disposed spiral patterns.