298 The Leather Plater. 



The old man introduced me thus : '' Here, Annie, here's a 

 - — I do beheve he was very nearly saying gentleman, but he 

 checked himself — party as has come and bought the bay colt." 



''^Has he?" quietly remarked the girl, in a tone that indicated 

 neither interest nor surprise ; and, rising from her seat, she made 

 me a kind of half-bow, half-curtsey, in a style which I never saw 

 beaten amongst the highest-bred ones, and drawing herself up to 

 her full height, regarded me with a fixed stare, so steady, so long, 

 and so searching, that I was almost tempted to ask her if she 

 thought she should know me if she saw me again — when the old 

 man turned to the door, and calling to her with a rude, " Here, 

 gal," she followed him, and swept out of the room with the air of 

 a Mrs. Siddons. 



Whether or not she would have known me again was of little 

 moment3 but I'll swear that only from the parting glimpse which 

 I obtained of that woman, I should have known her again among a 

 thousand. The first glance of Annie Radford left an impression 

 upon my mind which years could not eradicate. I was so taken by 

 surprise — so thunderstruck with her surpassing beauty, which 

 flashed so suddenly upon me — that for the moment I forgot where 

 I was, and stood vacantly gazing at the door out of which she 

 had just passed, as if I fancied I could see her through it 5 and 

 I was only aroused from my reverie by the sick man asking me, 

 in a faint, mild tone, " So, you've bought our bay coU, have you. 



sir 



I am not an adept at describing female beauty 5 and I very much 

 question whether any pen, however good, could do justice to Annie 

 Radford. Tall and exquisitely formed, with a rich, clear olive com- 

 plexion, dark as that of any Spaniard ; large, full, languishing blue 

 eyes, and hair as black and glossy as the raven's wing. Her fea- 

 tures were as regular and as faultless as her form j and there was a 

 look of determination about her beautiful mouth and her sharp, 

 clearly-chiselled chin, which said that if once she got the upper hand 

 of a man, she would be very likely to keep it, and a proud, hau2:hty 

 bearing about the whole woman, which plainly told that she would 



