Her Faithful Knight — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

12 The Hour and the Woman. waste their pencils on unresponsive marble with this love- ly model before their eyes. He was even conscious of surprise at the unmoved calm of the curator who sat in a corner of the gallery nursing his wand, and hardly glanc- ing in the fair-haired lady’s direction. An overpowering desire to make her look at him, to meet the full gaze of her gray eyes fixed on his, impelled Aylmer to walk a little way down the gallery, and then pause for a moment in front of a marble group near her seat. As he did so the girl turned her head a little to the right, and their eyes met for the first time. It seemed to him that no woman had ever looked at him before, and that they two were as much alone and separate from the rest as the first man and first woman together in Eden. She looked at him half wonderingly under contracted brows, as though trying to recollect where she had seen him before. Her eyes were very brilliant, of a peculiar hazel-gray that looked almost green in the strongest light ; his were brown, and in their direct, steadfast gaze the least of vain women could have read something stronger than admiration, while the most modest need not have shrunk from their unspoken homage. Clearly, the lady in blue was not annoyed with him for staring at her, for even when, with a deep blush, she looked away from him to her drawing board there was nothing in her expression that betokened displeasure. That long look, given and received, was to Aylmer’s thinking a most hopeful beginning to his courtship. At least, she would remember him again, and if his eyes pos- sessed half the eloquence he desired, she would know that he had fallen in love with her. Such a first impression was too precious to be inter- fered with, and after a few more inquiries at the entrance as to the coveted student’s ticket, Aylmer Read left the building. at Eomichbooks (S@)