Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/20

8 titia standing where the light of the hall lamp fell softly over her.

"But you know," he said, "it would n't be strange for a man not to notice the dress, because the person who has it on is so much better worth looking at than any dress."

Letitia's delight at this compliment could not be disguised. She blushed and tried not to smile, and looked as childishly pleased as a woman can who is five feet nine inches high, and has the massive proportions and noble outlines of a Greek goddess.

She was, in truth, a fine creature, large, statuesque, and handsome, as Californian women are handsome, with the beauty of form and color. Viewed critically, her features were not without defects; but her figure was superb in its type, her skin was flawless, and her naturally rich coloring was still further intensified by the reddish hue that had been imparted to her hair by some artificial means. In the full panoply of evening dress there was something magnificently vivid, almost startling, about her. One could imagine a stranger, who had come suddenly upon her in a doorway or on a staircase, standing mute, with caught breath, staring.

To-night, touched into higher brilliancy by the new pink dress, her beauty even struck Gault's accustomed eye, and his compliment