The temple bells

The next section of Told round the fire is entitled 'The mystery of the east'. Lorna has taken the text of 'Four Indian love lyrics' by Laurence Hope as inspiration for this part of her book. Lorna cites Hope's verses in the tracing paper that protects the picture:

The Temple bells are ringing,
The young green corn is springing,
And the marriage month is drawing very near.
I lie hidden in the grass,
And I count the moments pass,
For the month of marriage is drawing near.

The Wikipedia entry on Laurence Hope is very interesting. 'He' was really Adela Florence Nicolson, one of the most popular romantic poets of the Edwardian era. She came from Gloucestershire (so not far from Lorna's home in Malvern), married a British army officer in India, and committed suicide in Madras by poisoning herself when aged just 39.