It befell at this period, just before Christmas, that on my having gone
under pressure of the season into a great shop to buy a toy or two, my
eyes fleeing from superfluity, lighted at a distance on the bright
concretion of Flora Saunt, an exhibitability that held its own even
against the most plausible pinkness of the most developed dolls. A huge
quarter of the place, the biggest bazaar "on earth," was peopled with
these and other effigies and fantasies, as well as with purchasers and
vendors haggard alike, in the blaze of the gas, with hesitations. I was
just about to appeal to Flora to avert that stage of my errand when I saw
that she was accompanied by a gentleman whose identity, though more than
a year had elapsed, came back to me from the Folkestone cliff. It had
been associated on that scene with showy knickerbockers; at present it
overflowed more splendidly into a fur-trimmed overcoat. Lord Iffield's
presence made me waver an instant before crossing over, and during that
instant Flora, blank and undistinguishing, as if she too were after all
weary of alternatives, looked straight across at me. I was on the point
of raising my hat to her when I observed that her face gave no sign. I
was exactly in the line of her vision, but she either didn't see me or
didn't recognise me, or else had a reason to pretend she didn't. Was her
reason that I had displeased her and that she wished to punish me? I had
always thought it one of her merits that she wasn't vindictive. She at
any rate simply looked away; and at this moment one of the shop-girls,
who had apparently gone off in search of it, bustled up to her with a
small mechanical toy. It so happened that I followed closely what then
took place, afterwards recognising that I had been led to do so, led even
through the crowd to press nearer for the purpose, by an impression of
which in the act I was not fully conscious.
Flora with the toy in her hand looked round at her companion; then seeing
his attention had been solicited in another quarter she moved away with
the shop-girl, who had evidently offered to conduct her into the presence
of more objects of the same sort. When she reached the indicated spot I
was in a position still to observe her. She had asked some question
about the working of the toy, and the girl, taking it herself, began to
explain the little secret. Flora bent her head over it, but she clearly
didn't understand. I saw her, in a manner that quickened my curiosity,
give a glance back at the place from which she had come. Lord Iffield
was talking with another young person; she satisfied herself of this by
the aid of a question addressed to her own attendant. She then drew
closer to the table near which she stood and, turning her back to me,
bent her head lower over the collection of toys and more particularly
over the small object the girl had attempted to explain. She took it
again and, after a moment, with her face well averted, made an odd motion
of her arms and a significant little duck of her head. These slight
signs, singular as it may appear, produced in my bosom an agitation so
great that I failed to notice Lord Iffield's whereabouts. He had
rejoined her; he was close upon her before I knew it or before she knew
it herself. I felt at that instant the strangest of all promptings: if
it could have operated more rapidly it would have caused me to dash
between them in some such manner as to give Flora a caution. In fact as
it was I think I could have done this in time had I not been checked by a
curiosity stronger still than my impulse. There were three seconds
during which I saw the young man and yet let him come on. Didn't I make
the quick calculation that if he didn't catch what Flora was doing I too
might perhaps not catch it? She at any rate herself took the alarm. On
perceiving her companion's nearness she made, still averted, another duck
of her head and a shuffle of her hands so precipitate that a little tin
steamboat she had been holding escaped from them and rattled down to the
floor with a sharpness that I hear at this hour. Lord Iffield had
already seized her arm; with a violent jerk he brought her round toward
him. Then it was that there met my eyes a quite distressing sight: this
exquisite creature, blushing, glaring, exposed, with a pair of big black-
rimmed eye-glasses, defacing her by their position, crookedly astride of
her beautiful nose. She made a grab at them with her free hand while I
turned confusedly away.