Does she
mean to signify by these that she is wounded, or that she proposes
to inflict wounds? Ye gods! how strangely, terribly, exasperatingly
beautiful she is! I have certainly both misjudged and misunderstood
her."
These thoughts passed through his mind as he stole an occasional
glance at their object, who sat with her profile towards him almost
in the line of his vision. At the same time he was apparently
listening to a prosy and interminable story from one of the group
of which he was a member. They had been telling anecdotes of travel,
and the last speaker's experience was, like his journey, long and
uninteresting.
Van Berg soon observed that many others besides himself were observing
Miss Mayhew. She seemed to fascinate, perplex, and trouble all
who looked towards her. The singular beauty and striking toilet
might account, in part, for the lingering glances, but not for the
perplexity and uneasiness they caused. If Ida had been dead her
features could not have been more colorless; and they had a stern,
hard, desperate expression that was sadly out of harmony with what
should be the appearance of a happy young girl.
Her presence seemed to cause an increasing chill and restraint.
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