Lavender

“Bees hung above the lavender; lizards sunned themselves on the benches and slipped through the cracks of the dry basins.”[1]

Mentioned while the unnamed first-person narrator is observing the gardens at the manor house before entering the Duchess’s apartments with the old man.

Lavender is also mentioned a second time, as the old man describes the relationship between the Duchess and Ascanio: "you could no more keep them apart than the bees and the lavender."[2] Lavender, symbolically speaking, represents devotion and virtue[3]. Perhaps Wharton intended to underline the love the two had for one another and how far they were willing to go with their passionate commitment. Perhaps she also wished to leave open the possibility that there was no adultery at all and the Duchess indeed only ever prayed beneath the chapel, retaining her marital virtue; or, virtue in a different light could be the Duchess staying true to herself and following her heart.

[1] Wharton 1901, p. 2

[2] Wharton 1901, p. 9

[3] Boeckmann 2019