“It's beautiful!” she was saying, not so much to her companions as to
herself, and the old parson was laughing at her bursts of rapture over
the commonplace scene, and dropping out in reply little driblets of
simple talk--sweet, pure nothings--the innocent babble as of a mountain
stream.
She was taller than the common, and had golden-red hair, and magnificent
dark-gray eyes of great size. One of her eyes had a brown spot, which
gave at the first glance the effect of a squint, at the next glance a
coquettish expression, and ever after a sense of tremendous power
and passion. But her most noticeable feature was her mouth, which was
somewhat too large for beauty, and was always moving nervously. When she
spoke, her voice startled you with its depth, which was a kind of soft
hoarseness, but capable of every shade of colour. There was a playful
and impetuous raillery in nearly all she said, and everything seemed
to be expressed by mind and body at the same time. She moved her body
restlessly, and while standing in the same place her feet were always
shuffling. Her dress was homely--almost poor--and perhaps a little
careless. She appeared to smile and laugh continually, and yet there
were tears in her eyes sometimes.
The young clergyman was of a good average height, but he looked taller
from a certain distinction of figure. When he raised his hat at the
captain's greeting he showed a forehead like an arched wall, and a
large, close-cropped head. He had a well-formed nose, a powerful chin,
and full lips--all very strong and set for one so young. His complexion
was dark--almost swarthy--and there was a certain look of the gipsy in
his big golden-brown eyes with their long black lashes. He was clean
shaven, and the lower part of his face seemed heavy under the splendid
fire of the eyes above it. His manner had a sort of diffident restraint;
he stood on the same spot without moving, and almost without raising his
drooping head; his speech was grave and usually slow and laboured; his
voice was bold and full.
The second bell had rung, and the old parson was making ready to go
ashore.
“You'll take care of this runaway, Mr. Storm, and deliver her safely at
the door of the hospital?”
“I will.”
“And you'll keep an eye on her in that big Babylon over there?”
“If she'll let me, sir.”
“Yes, indeed, yes; I know she's as unstable as water and as hard to hold
as a puff of wind.”
The girl was laughing again. “You might as well call me a tempest
and have done with it, or,” with a glance at the younger man, “say a
storm--Glory St---- Oh!”
With a little catch of the breath she arrested the name before it
was uttered by her impetuous tongue, and laughed again to cover her
confusion. The young man smiled faintly and rather painfully, but the
old parson was conscious of nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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