Had they been of
cotton, such as girls of her class usually wore, the thought of
pressing his lips to them would have put his teeth on edge. He
loved the little brown shoes, that must have been expensive when
new, for they still kept their shape. And the fringe of dainty
petticoat, always so spotless and with never a tear, and the neat,
plain stockings that showed below the closely fitting frock. So
often he had noticed girls, showily, extravagantly dressed, but with
red bare hands and sloppy shoes. Handsome girls, some of them,
attractive enough if you were not of a finicking nature, to whom the
little accessories are almost of more importance than the whole.
He loved her voice, so different from the strident tones that every
now and then, as some couple, laughing and talking, passed them,
would fall upon him almost like a blow; her quick, graceful
movements that always brought back to his memory the vision of hill
and stream. In her little brown shoes and gloves and the frock
which was also of a shade of brown though darker, she was strangely
suggestive to him of a fawn. The gentle look, the swift, soft
movements that have taken place before they are seen; the haunting
suggestion of fear never quite conquered, as if the little nervous
limbs were always ready for sudden flight.
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