24 A SUBJECT FOR WHISTLER 



slowly and carefully turn round and round to get 

 them free again, still keeping a hold on her hat, and 

 her eyes fixed on the goblet for fear of spilling the 

 Cornish cream. She was really a beautiful girl, so 

 I had my reward; small delicate features and a com- 

 plexion like the briar rose, and eyes of a blue that 

 was like the sky above her. 



Just as she crossed the road where I stood, the 

 wind again struck her and compelled her to stand still 

 and slowly make three turns round before proceeding 

 once more. " A rather difficult task," I remarked 

 sympathetically, with a glance at the goblet. " Yes, 

 it is rather difficult," she returned, but the even 

 tone in which she spoke was a distant one, and very 

 dignified in so young a person. Nor did she lift her 

 eyes ; they were still fixed fast on the goblet of cream. 

 Then slowly, slowly and carefully, she went on her 

 way, leaving me congratulating myself on having 

 witnessed a really beautiful thing — a better Delia 

 in the country than any a Morland's coarse brush 

 could paint. It was a subject that Whistler might 

 have attempted: the colour scheme would have 

 intoxicated him with delight; the slim, beautiful 

 figure in its dead black coming down that piece of 

 rocky path between walls of black-green furze, their 

 darkness, which was nearly as dark as her costume, 

 almost covered with the flame yellow of the flowers, 

 and the blue sky with white flying clouds and the 

 deeper blue sea, flecked with white foam, for a back- 

 ground. He once did something I was reminded of, 

 a beautiful young lady in deep mourning, with black 



