“That’s right,” she said. “I told you to punish me. I have deserved it, I know. But tell me if I’m pretty.”
I looked at her calmly. It was certainly wonderful how the petite drôlesse in her had developed, amplified into something bewitching; but it was the adolescence of a witch, I thought. Her hair was umber gold, with pale green lights in it, and drawn back in loose wings from her forehead, and tied into a club at the nape of a very white neck. Her cheeks were a little lean, but pitted with the old dimples at pleasure; and the whole contour of her face was frankly girlish—soft and kind but for the eyes. Or at least I thought so. There seemed a knowledge in their artless honesty, born of depths below the blue. Blue, I say! I don’t know to this day if they are blue or green. It depends upon their point of view, whether it be sky or verdure.
She was slender and smooth-limbed; a fragrant enough creature but for the odour of memory. I answered her deliberately.
“Not to me. I have had no finishing education. I am still governed by childish prejudices. I daresay you will be a success elsewhere.”
She sighed a little, and got to her feet.
“It is a shame,” she said, and very handsomely. “You have been neglected shamefully, I know. But I’ve no right to speak. I wish you thought me pretty.”
“Well, so do I,” I said. “But, what does it matter? You are an heiress.”
She stood regarding me seriously for a little. Then all of a sudden, to my amazement, her eyes blinked with tears. I stared at her, speechless.
“Yes, I know,” she said; “it’s very silly. But you’ve no idea how you’ve been on my mind. It was at Dinan, first, and then in London, where I began to get things into their proper proportions—my own insignificance among the number. You were somehow always in the background of my thoughts—wasn’t that funny? You know, you were a very good-looking child, Richard; or perhaps you don’t know. I was horribly jealous of you, anyhow.”
“Well, well,” I said. “And how about Lady Skene, Miss Christmas? Are you still in favour with her and Mr Pugsley?”