TEE FIELD-PLAY. 8 



ingly give it ground of justification by open guilt. 

 The women accused her of too free a carriage with 

 the men ; she replied by seeking their company in the 

 broad glare of the summer day. They laughed loudly, 

 joked, but welcomed her ; they chatted with her 

 gaily ; they compelled her to sip from their ale as they 

 paused by the hedge. By noon there was a high colour 

 on her cheeks ; the sun, the exercise, the badinage 

 had brought it up. 



So fair a complexion could not brown even in 

 summer, exposed to the utmost heat. The beams 

 indeed did heighten the hue of her cheeks a little, but 

 it did not shade to brown. Her chin and neck were 

 wholly untanned, white and soft, and the blue veins 

 roamed at their will. Lips red, a little full perhaps ; 

 teeth slightly prominent but white and gleamy as she 

 smiled. Dark brown hair in no great abundance, 

 always slipping out of its confinement and straggling, 

 now on her forehead, and now on her shoulders, like 

 wandering bines of bryony. The softest of brown 

 eyes under long eyelashes ; eyes that seemed to see 

 everything in its gentlest aspect, that could see no 

 harm anywhere. A ready smile on the face, and a 

 smile in the form. Her shape yielded so easily at 

 each movement that it seemed to smile as she walked. 

 Her nose was the least pleasing feature — not delicate 

 enough to fit with the complexion, and distinctly 

 upturned, though not offensively. But it was not 

 noticed; no one saw anything beyond the laughing 

 lips, the laughing shape, the eyes that melted so near 

 to tears. The torn dress, the straggling hair, the 

 tattered shoes, the unmended stocking, the straw hat 



