Her slim,
solid little body had all the qualities of endurance of those
wiry ponies that come from the regions her face and walk and the
careless grace of her hair so delightfully suggested. As she
advanced toward the house she saw a gay company assembled on the
wide veranda. Jane was giving a farewell luncheon for her
visitors, had asked almost a dozen of the most presentable girls
in the town. It was a very fashionable affair, and everyone had
dressed for it in the best she had to wear at that time of day.
Selma saw the company while there was still time for her to draw
back and descend into the woods. But she knew little about
conventionalities, and she cared not at all about them. She had
come to see Jane; she conducted herself precisely as she would
have expected any one to act who came to see her at any time.
She marched straight across the lawn. The hostess, the
fashionable visitors, the fashionable guests soon centered upon
the extraordinary figure moving toward them under that blazing
sun. The figure was extraordinary not for dress--the dress was
plain and unconspicuous--but for that expression of the free and
the untamed, the lack of self-consciousness so rarely seen except
in children and animals. Jane rushed to the steps to welcome
her, seized her extended hands and kissed her with as much
enthusiasm as she kissed Jane. There was sincerity in this
greeting of Jane's; but there was pose, also.
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