278 THE LAND'S END 



the plants flowing over into the stream and even 

 covering some of the big boulder stones in it. That 

 was the setting and the girl was worthy of it, stand- 

 ing there, fresh from the wash-tub, her arms bare to 

 the shoulders, in her thin blue cotton gown, regarding 

 me with lively inquisitive eyes. She had the double 

 attraction of prettiness and singularity. It was a 

 Cornish face, healthy but colourless as in the majority 

 of the women, very broad, high cheek-bones ; but 

 it differed in the fineness of the features and in 

 the pointed chin which together with the large eyes 

 gave it that peculiar interesting cat-like form seen in 

 some pretty women, and which is so marked in a 

 well-known portrait of Queen Mary at Holyrood. 

 The large eyes were of the greyish-blue colour so 

 common in this district, with large pupils and that 

 deepening of colour at the outer edge of the iris 

 which takes the appearance of a black ring. These 

 ringed blue eyes are sometimes seen in other counties 

 but are most common in the part of Cornwall where 

 I have observed the people. Finally in strange con- 

 trast with the large blue eyes her hair was black and 

 being unbound the wind was blowing it all about her 

 face and neck. 



I stopped to talk to the girl and had plenty of time 

 to get my mental sketch of her. Speaking of the 

 colt's-foot, so abundant at her own door, she told 

 me that she had never heard it named anything but 

 " weed." She also assured me that she hated it, and 

 so did every one, and she could see nothing to admire 

 in it. 



