rt." I'd learned enough already about
London ways to understand as much as that. But all the same I thought
that he had the air of a soldier. And he had such a contradictory sort
of face that it interested me immensely, wondering what the
contradictions meant.

He had taken off his hat when I came into the shop (I'd noticed that,
and had been pleased), and now I saw that the upper part of his forehead
was very white and the rest of his face very tanned, as if his
complexion had slipped down. He had almost straw-coloured hair, which
seemed lighter than it was because of his sunburned skin; and his
eyebrows and the eyelashes (lowered while he gazed at my lace) were two
or three shades darker. They were long, arched brows that gave a look of
dreamy romance to the upper part of his face, but the lower part was
extremely determined, perhaps even obstinate. It jumped into my head
that a woman--even a fascinator like Diana--would never be able to make
him change his mind about things, or do things he didn't wish to do.
That was one of the contradictions, and the nose was another. It was
rather a Roman sort of nose, and looked aggressive, as if it would be
searching about for forlorn hopes to fight for; anyhow, as if it must
fight at all costs. Then, contradicting the nose, was the mouth (for he
was clean-shaven as all young men ought to be, and not leave too much to
our imagination), a mouth somehow like a boy's, affectionate and kind
and gay, though far from being weak. I didn't know what to make of him
at all, and, of course, I liked him the better for that.

"I think this is mighty fine lace," he pronounced, when he had studied
it long enough to show off as a connoisseur; and all of a sudden I
realized that he was an American. Diana had collected two American
friends who often invited her to the Savoy, and I'd heard them, and no
one else, say "mighty fine." "Are you sure you want to get rid of it?"

I thought he was a dear to put it like that, as if I could have no real
need for money, but had such a glut of lace scarves at home that I must
rid myself of a few superfluous ones. As he spoke he was looking
straight at me with the kind eyes I had noticed first of all--gray and
yellow and brown mixed up together into hazel. I suppose it must have
been some quality in that look which made me decide instantly to tell
him everything. I'd have suffered the torture of the boot (anyhow, for a
minute or two) before I would have expl