. She was no darker than a Spaniard, small and very beautifully
made, with tiny hands and feet, and a slight, lithe figure. Her features
were lovely; but I think what struck me most was the delicacy of her
appearance; the half-caste as a rule have a certain coarseness, they
seem a little roughly formed, but she had an exquisite daintiness which
took your breath away. There was something extremely civilised about
her, so that it surprised you to see her in those surroundings, and you
thought of those famous beauties who had set all the world talking at
the Court of the Emperor Napoleon III. Though she wore but a muslin
frock and a straw hat she wore them with an elegance that suggested the
woman of fashion. She must have been ravishing when Lawson first saw
her.

He had but lately come out from England to manage the local branch of an
English bank, and, reaching Samoa at the beginning of the dry season, he
had taken a room at the hotel. He quickly made the acquaintance of all
and sundry. The life of the island is pleasant and easy. He enjoyed the
long idle talks in the lounge of the hotel and the gay evenings at the
English Club when a group of fellows would play pool. He liked Apia
straggling along the edge of the lagoon, with its stores and bungalows,
and its native village. Then there were week-ends when he would ride
over to the house of one planter or another and spend a couple of nights
on the hills. He had never before known freedom or leisure. And he was
intoxicated by the sunshine. When he rode through the bush his head
reeled a little at the beauty that surrounded him. The country was
indescribably fertile. In parts the forest was still virgin, a tangle of
strange trees, luxuriant undergrowth, and vine; it gave an impression
that was mysterious and troubling.

But the spot that entranced him was a pool a mile or two away from Apia
to which in the evenings he often went to bathe. There was a little
river that bubbled over the rocks in a swift stream, and then, after
forming the deep pool, ran on, shallow and crystalline, past a ford made
by great stones where the natives came sometimes to bathe or to wash
their clothes. The coconut trees, with their frivolous elegance, grew
thickly on the banks, all clad with trailing plants, and they were
reflected in the green water. It was just such a scene as you might see
in Devonshire among the hills, and yet with a difference, for it had a
tropical richness, a passion, a