We reached the brook, and I placed two broad flat stones at the edge of a little pool where the lucid water paused for an instant before pursuing its course along the rocky way, and watched her while she stooped and drank. She had cast aside her cloak, and I noted with a clear delight the soft curve of her arms, the slim grace of neck and shoulders.
“Now it is your turn, my friend,” she said, and made room for me.
I knelt and drank too. How good the water tasted! How it cleansed and purified the parched throat! How it heartened the whole body!
“And now I shall use some of it externally,” she said, as I stood aside; and I sat down on a nearby rock to enjoy the spectacle.
She rolled back her sleeves and bound her hair in a tight coil upon her head. Then from some hidden pocket she produced a dainty handkerchief, and dipping it in the stream, applied it vigorously to face and neck. I saw her skin glow and brighten under touch of the cool water; she seemed like a nymph——
Suddenly she looked aside and caught my eyes.
“Is this the first time you have seen a lady at her toilet, M. de Tavernay?” she asked, witheringly.
“The very first, mademoiselle.”
“And you feel no compunctions of conscience for keeping your seat there?”
“None in the least,” I answered calmly. “I must see that no enemy surprises you.”