26 THE OPEN AIR. 



and scarlet ; lovely colours all of them, but not like 

 this. Nor is there any flower comparable to it, nor 

 any gem. It is purely human, and it is only found 

 on the human face which has felt the sunshine 

 continually. There must, too, I suppose, be a dis- 

 position towards it, a peculiar and exceptional con- 

 dition of the fibres which build up the skin ; for of 

 the numbers who work out of doors, very, very few 

 possess it ; they become brown, red, or tanned, 

 sometimes of a parchment hue they do not get this 

 colour. 



These two women from the fruit gardens had 

 the golden-brown in their faces, and their plain 

 features were transfigured. They were walking in 

 the dusty road ; there was as background a high, 

 dusty hawthorn hedge which had lost the freshness 

 of spring and was browned by the work of caterpillars ; 

 they were in rags and jags, their shoes had split, and 

 their feet looked twice as wide in consequence. Their 

 hands were black; not grimy, but absolutely black, 

 and neither hands nor necks ever knew water, I am 

 sure. There was not the least shape to their 

 garments ; their dresses simply hung down in straight 

 ungraceful lines ; there was no colour of ribbon or 

 flower, to light up the dinginess. But they had the 

 golden-brown in their faces, and they were beautiful. 



The feet, as they walked, were set firm on the ground, 

 and the body advanced with measured, deliberate, 

 yet lazy and confident grace ; shoulders thrown back 

 square, but not over-square (as those who have 

 been drilled) ; hips swelling at the side in lines like 

 the full bust, though longer drawn ; busts well filled 



