tibly a
part of that jewelled scene. High above, where cultivation ceased, a
deep collar of evergreen trees encircled the cone, its harsh stiff
outlines in no wise softened by the white cloud hovering above the
summit. Charlestown spread along the shore of a curving bay, its many
fine buildings and infinite number of huckster shops, its stately
houses and negro village alike shaded by immense banana trees, the
loftier cocoanut, and every variety of palm.

Anne, as she gazed, concluded that if choice were demanded, it must
be given to the royal palm and the cane fields. The former rose, a
splendid silvery shaft, to a great height, where it spread out into a
mass of long green blades shining like metal in the sun. But the cane
fields! They glittered a solid mass of gold on all visible curves of
the mountain. When the dazzled eye, grown accustomed to the sight
which no cloud in the deep blue tempered, separated it into parts, it
was but to admire the more. The cane, nearly eight feet in height,
waxed from gold to copper, where the long blade-like leaves rose
waving from the stalk. From the centre of the tip shot out a silver
wand supporting a plume of white feathers, shading into lilac. The
whole island, rising abruptly out of the rich blue waters of the sea,
looked like a colossal jewel that might once have graced the diadem of
the buried continent.

The idea pleased Anne Percy at all events, and she lingered a few
moments half dazed by the beauty about her and wholly happy. And
on the terraces and in the gardens were the flowers and shrubs of
the tropics, whose perfumes were as sweet as their colours were
unsurpassed; the flaming hydrangea, the rose-shaped Arabian jasmine,
the pink pluminia, the bright yellow acacia, the scarlet trumpet
flower, the purple and white convolvulus, the silvery white blossoms
of the lime tree, framed with dark green leaves.

Anne shook herself out of her dream, descended the terraces, and
walked down a narrow avenue of royal palms to the town. She could hear
the "Oyez! Oyez!" of the criers announcing the wares brought in from
the country, and, eager for the new picture, walked as rapidly as her
fine frock would permit. She was obliged to hold up her long and
voluminous skirts, and her sleeves were so tight that the effort
cramped her arms. To stride after her usual fashion was impossible,
and she ambled along anathematising fashion and resolved to buy some
cotton in the town and privately