Beauty shone in her
like the flame in an alabaster lamp, serene, diffused in the very
air about her, so that to me she moved in a mild radiance. She
rose to meet me with both hands outstretched - the kindest, most
cordial welcome. Not an eyelash flickered, not a trace of self-
consciousness. If I could have seen her flush or tremble - but no
- her eyes were clear and calm as a forest pool. So I remembered
her. So I saw her once more.
I tried, with a hopeless pretence, to follow her example and hide
what I felt, where she had nothing to hide.
"What a place you have found. Why, it's like the deep heart of a
wood!"
"Yes, I saw it once when I was here with the Meryons. But we lay
at the Bund then - just under the Club. This is better. Did you
like the ride up?"
I threw myself on the grass beside her with a feeling of perfect
rest.
"It was like a new heaven and a new earth. What a country!"
The very spirit of Quiet seemed to be drowsing in those branches
towering up into the blue, dipping their green fingers into the
crystal of the water. What a heaven!
"Now you shall have your tea and then I will show you your
rooms," she said, smiling at my delight.
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