dropping on to her finger. From my position it was impossible to
see her distinctly, yet I dared not move. I could make out that
she was small, not above four feet six or seven inches in height,
in figure slim, with delicately shaped little hands and feet.
Her feet were bare, and her only garment was a slight
chemise-shaped dress reaching below her knees, of a whitish-gray
colour, with a faint lustre as of a silky material. Her hair was
very wonderful; it was loose and abundant, and seemed wavy or
curly, falling in a cloud on her shoulders and arms. Dark it
appeared, but the precise tint was indeterminable, as was that of
her skin, which looked neither brown nor white. All together,
near to me as she actually was, there was a kind of mistiness in
the figure which made it appear somewhat vague and distant, and a
greenish grey seemed the prevailing colour. This tint I
presently attributed to the effect of the sunlight falling on her
through the green foliage; for once, for a moment, she raised
herself to reach her finger nearer to the bird, and then a gleam
of unsubdued sunlight fell on her hair and arm, and the arm at
that moment appeared of a pearly whiteness, and the hair, just
where the light touched it, had a strange lustre and play of
iridescent colour.

I had not been watching her more than three seconds before the
bird, with a sharp, creaking little chirp, flew up and away in
sudden alarm; at the same moment she turned and saw me through
the light leafy screen. But although catching sight of me thus
suddenly, she did not exhibit alarm like the bird; only her eyes,
wide open, with a surprised look in them, remained immovably
fixed on my face. And then slowly, imperceptibly--for I did not
notice the actual movement, so gradual and smooth it was, like