The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
coloured foot-gear; she had contented herself with fashioning new tops to those she had
already worn. That which she was now covering was of French make, a dainty,
ridiculous thing, with a preposterously narrow toe and high heel. The few months’ wear
to which it had already been subjected had imparted to it a distinct and seductive
character; one could not see it without recalling the arch of the slender foot it was
permitted to clothe; its grace, its lightness. As Humphrey gazed at it his anger began to
melt; he was a young man of taste as well as of spirit, and he could forgive much to the
owner of that shoe.
Rachel did not guess his thoughts; her own were occupied with vengeful desires to
humiliate the man
[129]
who held her sex so lightly. Though her eyes were bent demurely on her work her mind
dwelt neither on the shoe itself, nor on the foot which was to wear it, save, perhaps, in a
metaphorical sense, with the burning wish to trample on her adversary.
Gradually Humphrey's eyes travelled from the shoe to the hand that held it; wandering
thence past the slender wrist and the soft white arm, which peeped out from its muslin
drapery, and so on, following the exquisite curving lines till they rested on the face
which crowned them. Rachel feigned to be unaware of his scrutiny, but the length and
boldness of it increased her secret sense of affront and injury. She did not know that her
cousin was marvelling to himself over the fact that the pretty lively child, of whom he
had hitherto taken but small account, was rapidly developing into a very lovely and
fascinating maiden. When at length, finding the silence oppressive, she raised her eyes,
she was surprised to observe that Humphrey was actually smiling.
"Come, Cousin," he cried gaily, "I will own that I am worsted in the argument. You
have certainly a ready wit, my dear. I wish I might enlist you in my cause. Since you
think I have set about my courtship with so ill a grace, perhaps you could give me a
useful hint or two. Pray tell me candidly, how did I manage to convey to you that I
looked upon Miss Gifford with — what was it you said — ‘contemptuous
indifference'?"
"Ah, that was by my woman's instinct," cried Rachel.