As to color, it was of so
lively a blue that it would permit no shadows even in its deepest
folds; it was just a close-fitting brightness that made the girl seem
to have shot up in a night to a form of much greater height and
increased slenderness. Her hat was made of yellow straw, with a wreath
of artificial daisies round the crown. When the tempered sunshine fell
upon her as she stood up to sing, she looked like something composed
of vivid color, light, and life--like a flower glowing in a garden, a
kingfisher hovering over a stream, a rainbow trembling on the crest of
a hill. Dale, watching her, thought that in comparison the other
maidens on the platform were positively plain.
He told Mavis afterward that he felt certain the dress had been
admired, adding that Norah's general appearance did her the utmost
credit. And that Sunday they both talked seriously about Norah's
future.
"You know," said Dale, "I feel it as a responsibility on us."
"So do I," said Mavis.
"Having taken it up, we must go through with it to the end. I mean,
we must always stand her friends--and more than that, her guardians."
"Of course."
"In a sense," he went on, didactically, "we may have made a mistake in
bringing her forward to the extent we've done.
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