256 STRAY -AW AYS 



a golden and tasselled canopy for the loves of the gods, 

 and now sheltering a stout young woman, with a 

 large hat on the back of her head, and a brown fringe 

 mingling with her thick eyebrows. Her dress pro- 

 claimed her the maid-of-all-work out for Sunday ; the 

 coarse colour that covered cheek and high cheek-bone 

 spoke of youth and strength; her mouth was good- 

 humoured, Irish, and vague. The blue eyes were 

 well and darkly set, the slant of the eyebrows down- 

 wards to the snub nose might have been sinister, or 

 might have been merely vulgar ; the rest of the face 

 gave the casting vote in the latter direction. 



She was obviously one half of an assignation; the 

 other half was already detaching himself from the 

 crowd on the central walk, and turning into the path 

 by the waterfall. He was a tall young man, shabbily 

 dressed, with a heavy, pale moustache, and the pasty 

 complexion that frequently accompanies the trade 

 of house-painting. He came straight towards the 

 girl with a laugh, and had her in his arms almost before 

 he sank down on the bench beside her ; the pert phrase 

 of servants' slang died from her lips, and as he kissed 

 her again and again her face flushed with the engross- 

 ment of passion, while his preserved the laugh with 

 which he had approached. 



" Steady now," she said incoherently. " Ah, steady, 

 Joe ! » 



He laughed again ; a woman pushed a perambulator 

 slowly by, children played in and out among the trees, 

 yet the moments of greeting were not interrupted. 



Few women can ignore, for any length of time, a hat 

 slipping backward off the head ; the girl sat violently 

 up and straightened it. 



" Well, ye got round the old one after all ? " he said, 

 looking at her from under his tliick lids, while she put 

 a hairpin or two in her mouth and adjusted her hair. 



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