Page:The Sea Lady.djvu/111

 beauty and charm and the occasional faint touches of something a little indefinable in her smile, she had become a quite passable and credible human being. She was a cripple, indeed, and her lower limb was most pathetically swathed and put in a sort of case, but it was quite generally understood—I am afraid at Mrs. Bunting's initiative—that presently they—Mrs. Bunting said "they," which was certainly almost as far or even a little farther than legitimate prevarication may go—would be as well as ever.

"Of course," said Mrs. Bunting, "she will never be able to bicycle again"

That was the sort of glamour she threw about it.

In Parker it is indisputable that the Sea Lady found—or at least had found for her by Mrs. Bunting—a treasure of