The autumn showed itself uneven and jagged. The currant and
gooseberry boughs, that earlier hung in soft arches, now projected
stiffly forth, catching in the ladies' dresses; branches from plum
and apple trees hung bare and broken, and required attention above
also. One of the ladies apparently was at home there: this was
evident partly from her dress, which, although elegant, was
domestic, and partly by her taking the lead and paying honor, by
drawing boughs and branches aside, holding them until the other
lady, who was more showily dressed, had slipped past. On account
of the hindrances of the walk there were none of those easy,
subdued, familiar conversations, which otherwise so naturally
arise when young ladies, acquaintances, or "friends," visit each
other, and from the house slip out alone into garden or wood. An
attentive observer meanwhile, by scrutinizing the physiognomy of
both, would, perhaps, have come to the conclusion, that even if
these two had been together on the most unobstructed road, no
confidence would have arisen between them, and would have
suspected the hostess of trying to atone for her lack of interest,
by being polite and careful. She was not strikingly handsome, but
possessed of a fine nature, which manifested itself in the whole
figure, and perhaps, especially, in the uncommonly well-formed
nose; yet it was by peering into her eyes that one first obtained
the idea of a womanhood somewhat superior to the generality of her
sex.
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