Yet he did not regard her as at all overdone because of that. He thought
her hair very fine, as it waved away from her low forehead in a grace
which reminded him of the pictures of the Empress Eugenie, and of the
sister of that monsieur le duc who had come fishing to St. Saviour's a
few years before. He thought that if her hair was let down it would
probably reach to her waist, and maybe to her ankles. She had none of
the plump, mellow softness of the beauties he had seen in the Basque
country. She was a slim and long limbed Diana, with fine lines and a
bosom of extreme youth, though she must have been twenty-one her last
birthday. The gown she wore was a dark green well-worn velvet, which
seemed of too good a make and quality for her class; and there was no
decoration about her anywhere, save at the ears, where two drops of gold
hung on little links an inch and a half long.

Jean Jacques Barbille's eyes took it all in with that observation of
which he was so proud and confident, and rested finally on the drops of
gold at her ears. Instinctively he fingered the heavy gold watch-chain
he had bought in Paris to replace the silver chain with a little crucifix
dangling, which his father and even his great-grandfather had worn before
him. He had kept the watch, however--the great fat-bellied thing which
had never run down in a hundred years. It was his mascot. To lose that
watch would be like losing his share in the promises of the Church. So
his fingers ran along the new gold-fourteen-carat-chain, to the watch at
the end of it; and he took it out a little ostentatiously, since he saw
that the eyes of the girl were on him. Involuntarily he wished to
impress her.

He might have saved himself the trouble. She was impressed. It was
quite another matter however, whether he would have been pleased to know
that the impression was due to his resemblance to a Spanish conspirator,