yourself--that is one of the signs of madness.




CHAPTER VI.

A SUMMER DAY ON THE THAMES.


It occurred to him as he walked down to the station--perhaps he went
early on the chance of finding her there alone--that he ought seriously
to study the features of this girl's face; for was there not a great
deal of character to be learned, or guessed at, that way? He had but
the vaguest notion of what she was really like. He knew that her teeth
were pearly white when she smiled, and that the rippling golden-brown
hair lay rather low on a calm and thoughtful forehead; but he had a less
distinct impression that her nose was perhaps the least thing
_retrousse_; and as to her eyes? They might be blue, gray, or green, but
one thing he was sure of was that they could speak more than was ever
uttered by any speech. He knew, besides, that she had an exquisite
figure: perhaps it was the fact that her shoulders were a trifle squarer
than is common with women that made her look somewhat taller than she
really was.

He would confirm or correct these vague impressions. And as the chances
were that they would spend a whole long day together, he would have
abundant opportunity of getting to know something about the character
and disposition of this new acquaintance, so that she should no longer
be to him a puzzling and distracting will-o'-the-wisp. What had he come