e body" for one of rich
chestnut-coloured silk. This was so far her best inspiration, for it
toned not only with the amber beads, but with her skin and hair. As she
turned to leave the room she was like a great glowing amber bead
herself, all brown and gold, with rich red lights and gleams of yellow
... then just as she was going out she had her last and best inspiration
of all. She suddenly went back into the room, and before the mirror tore
off the swathe of cream lace she wore round her throat. The short thick
column of her neck rose out of her golden blouse. She burned to her
ears, but walked resolutely from the room.

Her young man was waiting for her in the lounge, and she saw his rather
blank face light up when she appeared. She had been successful, then ...
the realization gave her confidence, and more beauty. During the meal
which followed, he re-cast a little of that opinion he had formed of
her the night before. She was younger than he had thought, probably only
a little over thirty, and far better looking than he had gathered from a
first impression. Joanna was that rather rare type of woman who
invariably looks her best in sunshine--the dusk had hidden from him her
really lovely colouring of skin and eyes and hair; here at her little
table by the window her face seemed almost a condensation of the warm,
ruddy light which poured in from the sea. Her eyes, with the queer
childlike depths behind their feminine hardness, her eager mouth and
splendid teeth, the scatter of freckles over her nose, all combined to
hold him in a queer enchantment of youth. There was a curious,
delightful freshness about her ... and she was a damn fine woman, too.

The night before he had gathered that she was of overwhelming
respectability, but now he had his doubts about that also. She certainly
seemed of a more oncoming disposition than he had thought, though there
was something naive and virginal about her forwardness. Her acquaintance
might prove more entertaining than he had supposed. He fixed his eyes on
her uncovered throat; she blushed deeply, and put her hand up.

Their talk was very much on the same lines as the night before. He
discovered that she had a zest for hearing him discourse on old
places--she drank in all he had to say about the old days of Marlingate,
when it was just a red fishing-village asleep between two hills. He told
her how the new town had been built northward and westward, in the days
of the great Mo