Haute Rue, I did not pursue it. I turned again upon a sudden thought
toward the Market Square, to see if I could pick up any dainties to
tempt the delicate appetite of my Sark patient. Every step I took
brought me into contact with some friend or acquaintance, whom I would
have avoided gladly. The market was sure to be full of them, for the
ladies of Guernsey, like Frenchwomen, would be there in shoals, with
their maidservants behind them to carry their purchases. Yet I turned
toward it, as I said, braving both congratulations and curiosity, to
see what I could buy for Tardif's "mam'zelle."

The square had all the peculiar animation of an early market where
ladies do their own bargaining. As I had known beforehand, most of my
acquaintances were there; for in Guernsey the feminine element
predominates terribly, and most of my acquaintances were ladies. The
peasant-women behind the stalls also knew me. Most of them nodded to me
as I strolled slowly through the crowd, but they were much too busy to
suspend their purchases in order to catechise me just then, being sure
of me at a future time. I had not done badly in choosing the busiest
street for my way home.

But as I left the Market Square I came suddenly upon Julia, face to
face. It had all the effect of a shock upon me. Like many other women,
she seldom looked well out-of-doors. The prevailing fashion never suited
her, however the bonnets were worn, whether hanging down the neck or
slouched over the forehead, rising spoon-shaped toward the sky, or lying
like a flat plate on the crown. Julia's bonnet always looked as if it
had been made for somebody else. She was fond of wearing a shawl, which
hung ungracefully about her, and made her figure look squarer and her
shoulders higher than they really were. Her face struck sharply upon my
brain, as if I had never seen it distinctly before; not a bad face, but