Chapter 6

It befell at this period, just before Christmas, that on my having

gone under pressure of the season into a great shop to buy a toy or

two, my eyes fleeing from superfluity, lighted at a distance on the

bright concretion of Flora Saunt, an exhibitability that held its

own even against the most plausible pinkness of the most developed

dolls. A huge quarter of the place, the biggest bazaar "on earth,"

was peopled with these and other effigies and fantasies, as well as

with purchasers and vendors haggard alike, in the blaze of the gas,

with hesitations. I was just about to appeal to Flora to avert

that stage of my errand when I saw that she was accompanied by a

gentleman whose identity, though more than a year had elapsed, came

back to me from the Folkestone cliff. It had been associated on

that scene with showy knickerbockers; at present it overflowed more

splendidly into a fur-trimmed overcoat. Lord Iffield's presence

made me waver an instant before crossing over, and during that

instant Flora, blank and undistinguishing, as if she too were after

all weary of alternatives, looked straight across at me. I was on

the point of raising my hat to her when I observed that her face

gave no sign. I was exactly in the line of her vision, but she

either didn't see me or didn't recognise me, or else had a reason

to pretend she didn't. Was her reason that I had displeased her

and that she wished to punish me? I had always thought it one of

her merits that she wasn't vindictive. She at any rate simply

looked away; and at this moment one of the shop-girls, who had

apparently gone off in search of it, bustled up to her with a small

mechanical toy. It so happened that I followed closely what then

took place, afterwards recognising that I had been led to do so,

led even through the crowd to press nearer for the purpose, by an

impression of which in the act I was not fully conscious.

Flora with the toy in her hand looked round at her companion; then

seeing his attention had been solicited in another quarter she

moved away with the shop-girl, who had evidently offered to conduct

her into the presence of more objects of the same sort. When she

reached the indicated spot I was in a position still to observe

her. She had asked some question about the working of the toy, and

the girl, taking it herself, began to explain the little secret.

Flora bent her head over it, but she clearly didn't understand. I

saw her, in a manner that quickened my curiosity, give a glance

back at the place from which she had come. Lord Iffield was

talking with another young person; she satisfied herself of this by

the aid of a question addressed to her own attendant. She then

drew closer to the table near which she stood and, turning her back

to me, bent her head lower over the collection of toys and more

particularly over the small object the girl had attempted to

explain. She took it again and, after a moment, with her face well

averted, made an odd motion of her arms and a significant little

duck of her head. These slight signs, singular as it may appear,

produced in my bosom an agitation so great that I failed to notice

Lord Iffield's whereabouts. He had rejoined her; he was close upon

her before I knew it or before she knew it herself. I felt at that

instant the strangest of all promptings: if it could have operated

more rapidly it would have caused me to dash between them in some

such manner as to give Flora a caution. In fact as it was I think

I could have done this in time had I not been checked by a

curiosity stronger still than my impulse. There were three seconds

during which I saw the young man and yet let him come on. Didn't I

make the quick calculation that if he didn't catch what Flora was

doing I too might perhaps not catch it? She at any rate herself

took the alarm. On perceiving her companion's nearness she made,

still averted, another duck of her head and a shuffle of her hands

so precipitate that a little tin steamboat she had been holding

escaped from them and rattled down to the floor with a sharpness

that I hear at this hour. Lord Iffield had already seized her arm;

with a violent jerk he brought her round toward him. Then it was

that there met my eyes a quite distressing sight: this exquisite

creature, blushing, glaring, exposed, with a pair of big black-

rimmed eye-glasses, defacing her by their position, crookedly

astride of her beautiful nose. She made a grab at them with her

free hand while I turned confusedly away.