Georg and Scarlett spent the best part of the day in the Salzkammergut, wandering together among the scented pine trees and over grassy knolls carpeted with a sea of tiny white flowers - the edelweiss. Scarlett seemed to exult in the freedom of the mountains, laughing as she chased after startled marmots and splashing Georg with water from the little brooks the two would come across as they walked.
'Captain, this is simply divine!' she cried as she sat down under the shade of a fir tree, plucking a little blue flower from the ground and beginning to pick at its petals. 'Is it always this beautiful?'
'At all times of the year, Miss Ziegler. Each season reveals something new to love and to cherish about the Salzkammergut. That flower you are holding there, for instance, is a spring gentian – it blossoms now in March, but will be gone by the summer. Its place will be taken by the alpine gentian which is, if anything, even prettier. And that there,' – he pointed to a few yards from where Scarlett sat – 'is a white crocus, which, beautiful as it is, is around for an even shorter span. Although it must have flowered only days ago, it will be gone by next month.'
'But, Captain Von Trapp, that flower is plainly violet!'
'Precisely so. Some white crocuses are, although of course those are harder to find.'
'Then I am happy to see one!' Scarlett smiled, before stretching her arms in a yawn. 'Captain, won't you sit down a while? I'm suddenly really quite tired.' Georg nodded and settled himself beside her on the grass, gazing up at the snow-capped mountains that surrounded them. The soft tinkling of cow bells sounded in the distance, while sweet strains of birdsong could be heard from the trees closer by.
'Edelweiss, edelweiss...ev'ry morning you greet me...small and white, clean and bright...you look happy to meet me...'
Georg sung quietly, his hand feeling in the turf beside him for the little white flower. Scarlett rested her head on his shoulder, sighing contentedly.
'Captain,' she breathed. 'Thank you. Thank you for showing me this.' Georg did not respond. He was thinking of Maria – rarest among all flowers, and most beautiful of all. But she had blossomed upon the earth for the shortest period, and with her death the springtime that she had brought into the Captain's life had also vanished. Darker, wintry days had come, for him, for his family, and for all of Austria. Still, thought Georg. You could almost imagine that none of it – Hitler, the Nazi party, the soldiers, the salutes, the swastikas – you could almost imagine that none of it existed, sitting up here in the mountains, among the flowers and the birds, listening to the sound of the brook and inhaling the purest air on all God's earth. In a way, you could almost feel happy.
Georg felt a hand in his, and he turned his head to look at Scarlett. Her face was bathed by the golden rays of the now setting sun, her green eyes sparkling and her small red lips parted expectantly. Unbidden, a thought entered his head; before it had time to work itself out fully, it was out of his mouth.
'Miss Ziegler – would you care to join me for dinner tonight?' Startled by his own forwardness, Georg swiftly began to mumble a qualification. 'That is, if you are not expected elsewhere, of course. I...I wouldn't want to keep you from anybody else who might be due the pleasure of your company...and indeed, it is getting quite late, and...'
'Captain,' Scarlett replied, taking both his hands now and looking into his eyes earnestly. 'I would love to join you for dinner.'
'Ah,' said Georg. 'Good. Yes. I think that would be very pleasant.' He gave a quick smile before standing, holding out his hand for Scarlett to take and helping her to her feet. 'Come then, we must get back to the car before we lose the light.'
On the way down the small track that led back to Salzburg, Georg paused while Scarlett walked on ahead, turning to look back at the mountains, now black against the dying sun. As velvety night silently enveloped the Salzkammergut, a lonely figure could be seen moving high on a hill, a goatherd guiding his flock back home. Watching, Georg once again began to sing softly to himself, a single tear rolling down his cheek and dropping among the tiny white flowers at his feet.
'Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow...bloom and grow forever...edelweiss, edelweiss...bless my homeland forever...'
