Each now made an effort to converse, but with poor success. As they passed at the foot of a hill, crowned and flanked with arches, there was a rustling noise, and out into the path before them lightly sprang Elsa.
Claud had never seen her look more beautiful or more strange. Something in her expression arrested his eye.
Since her friendship with the Allonby girls, her whole wardrobe had become regenerated, and the beautiful proportions of her fine figure were no longer obscured by ill-fitting monstrosities. Her dress was dark blue, so was her hat, and she had knotted a soft crimson shawl over her chest. The buffetting wind had lent a magnificent glow to her skin, her eyes were shining—she had altogether an excited look, as though her feelings had been strongly worked upon.
"Why, where have you been, Elsa?" asked her godfather, as they greeted her.
"Out for a ramble," she answered, evasively.
"And what direction did your rambles take?"
"Oh, I went here and there. Are you coming to see my aunts?"
"We are; we will walk with you as far as the house. Where's Godfrey?"
She looked up at him—an odd, half defiant look.
"At home, I suppose," she said.