The morning was bright and clear; the air was sweet and buoyant; the
food was good, the man and the girl were hungry, they both made an
excellent meal. And, while they ate and drank, and, between whiles,
talked, each, more or less furtively, took stock of the other. Dorothy
found that the hazy impression she had formed of the stranger
overnight was not in the least bit like him. He was younger than she
had thought. She was not much of a judge of men's years; since her
experience of them was so extremely limited, it was hardly likely that
she would be. In the darkness she had set him down as somewhere in the
forties; now, in the bright sunshine, which ages some of us, she
supposed him to be somewhere in the early thirties. There was about
him an appearance of vigour--the vigour which goes with youth--for
which she was unprepared. Then, too, he was so much better-looking
than she had taken him to be--perhaps in thinking so she was
influenced by the accident that she was dark and he was fair. His eyes
were very blue, and very bright; the skin of his face and neck, though
slightly tanned, was delicate as any girl's; his hair and beard were
flaxen. He was taller, too, than she had imagined--when he stood up
she saw that he must be at least six feet; his shoulders were so
broad, he held himself so straight, there was about him such a glow of
health and strength, that it did her good to look at him. And his
attire suited him well; or she thought it did--certainly there could
scarcely have been less of it. He wore no cap or coat or waistcoat;
his canvas shirt was open at the neck; his grey flannel trousers had
as belt a handkerchief of scarlet silk; he was shod with stout brown
shoes. It was a costume suited to fine weather out-of-doors; and, free
and easy as it was, both it and the wearer pleased the lady's
undoubtedly inexperienced eyes.
What impression she made on him it was not easy to determine; not
impossibly the morning light had brought a surprise also to him. One
felt, not only that she puzzled him, but that the puzzle continually
grew. In his speech he owned as much. When the dish and the plates
were empty he regarded her with a whimsical smile.
"It's good to eat when you're hungry."
"Yes," she agreed; "it is."
"Do you know that it's past eleven o'clock; and that when I'm abroad
in this house of mine I make it a rule to have all signs of breakfast
cleared away before the clock strikes eight."
She began to stammer.
"I beg your pardon; I am so sorry; it's all my fault; but I--I did
sleep so late. Now I--I won't hinder you any longer; I'll go." She
stood up. "I--don't quite know where; I--I don't know this part of
the country very well--I am very much obliged for all you've done for
me; you--you've been very kind. I have no money; but when I have
I'll--I'll pay you for what you've done, if you'll let me know to what
address to send."
"I think you're very stupid."
She crimsoned.
"Good-bye."
"I also think that you're ill-mannered."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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