A flowered petticoat appeared--as much of it as may be seen from the knee downwards--and from beneath this the daintiest foot conceivable was seen to grope an instant for the step.

Another second and the rest of her emerged.
Mr.Caryll observed--and be it known that he had the very shrewdest eye for a woman, as became one of the race from which on his mother's side he sprang--that she was middling tall, chastely slender, having, as he judged from her high waist, a fine, clean length of limb.

All this he observed and approved, and prayed for a glimpse of the face which her silken hood obscured and screened from his desiring gaze.

She raised it at that moment--raised it in a timid, frightened fashion, as one who looks fearfully about to see that she is not remarked--and Mr.Caryll had a glimpse of an oval face, pale with a warm pallor--like the pallor of the peach, he thought, and touched, like the peach, with a faint hint of pink in either cheek.

A pair of eyes, large, brown, and gentle as a saint's, met his, and Mr.Caryll realized that she was beautiful and that it might be good to look into those eyes at closer quarters.
Seeing him, a faint exclamation escaped her, and she turned away in sudden haste to enter the inn.