Now, the first thing that impressed Mrs. Plunket was not the straw hat, not the gloves, not the frock, not the wicker basket, and not even the cloak with the hood. It was the truly Amazonian proportions of Miss Perry that first impressed her.
She was exactly six feet high in her stockings, no more and no less. And everything about her, from the too-visible ankles upwards, were in the same proportion. Had Mrs. Plunket had an eye for such details, and unfortunately she had not, she would have observed in addition to the disconcerting physique and the shabby and ill-fitting clothes, a pair of the bluest eyes and a mane of the yellowest hair that ever came out of Devon. It is true that the eyes were somewhat dim and heavy, because they had shed a vast quantity of tears during the past forty-eight hours. All the same their quality was wonderful. Then also there was an equally wonderful West Country complexion, washed by the dew, fed by the sunshine, and refined by the winds of the sea and the moorland into a perfect glamor of pink and white. Yet all these enchanting details had nothing to say to Mrs. Plunket. For the first time in her long and successful career she had engaged a new under-housemaid merely upon the strength of “high-class references” only, with the fatal neglect of the precaution of “a personal interview.” In consequence the new under-housemaid proved to be six feet high, whose naïveté of dress and manners was something wholly beyond Mrs. Plunket’s experience.
“Pray sit down,” said Mrs. Plunket, with an arctic air which would not have disgraced the presiding genius of the blue drawing-room.
Miss Perry sat down with spacious ease. She placed the wicker basket on her knees and rested her elbows upon it.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” said Mrs. Plunket, stiffly.
“Oh yes, please,” said Miss Perry, who seemed sincerely gratified by the suggestion.
Mr. Marchbanks retired discreetly, while Mrs. Plunket prepared a cup of tea for Miss Perry. As she handed it to her she gazed very sternly through her spectacles at the new under-housemaid who sat nursing her wicker basket with remarkable unconcern.
“Thank you so much,” said Miss Perry, accepting the cup of tea with really charming friendliness.
“I had no idea that you were so large,” said Mrs. Plunket, with an aggrieved air. “I think the fact ought to have been mentioned.”
Miss Perry drew off her darned cotton gloves with great simplicity.