Her Faithful Knight — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Hour and the Woman. 7 fact, and conventional, he alone suspected his own latent capability for making a fool of himself about a woman. In Clofield his work had been ill paid, his time fully occu- pied, and the women he met few and unattractive. Here in London all these conditions were altered. He was to have more money and more leisure, and the exact psycho- logical moment had come when, given the woman with the necessary magnetic power over him, he was bound to fall fathoms deep in love with her. The birds of Venus were shaking the raindrops from their soot begrimed feathers in the Museum courtyard. Possibly the Sea-born herself may have hovered above the fog and rain-clouds in the vicinity of the Parthenon fragments, and, ever intent on securing votaries and vic- tims, may have directed Aylmer Read’s vision up a cer- tain side street, down which a woman in blue serge was coming toward him. | ' The woman was young and shapely; she carried her- self well and gracefully, even though hampered by an um- brella, a handbag, and a skirt which was too long at the back, and had to be lifted above a pair of beautiful feet in cheap walking shoes. To be graceful under such cir- cumstances was in itself an exceptional thing, and de- noted a unique equality in this young woman, distin- guishing her among others of her age and sex. To the injury of his peace of mind, Aylmer had to learn that this woman could not ever look ungainly, so admirably sym- metrical were her proportions. ‘While yet her face was concealed by the umbrella his heart began to beat a very little faster, so certain was he that her features would prove as wholly charming as her gait and carriage. A gust of wind came at his unspoken prayer, and, as she crossed the street and passed close to him, her umbrella was blown sufficiently on one side to enable him to take a long look at her face. EOMmiIGdoo SS) (S@)