She withdrew the handkerchiefs from the stream, waded out, and spread
them one by one upon the low earth wall to dry, letting her draperies
fall. When she had finished disposing them she turned round, and, no
longer preoccupied with her task, looked under her level brows into the
garden opposite and saw Domini and her companion. She did not start,
but stood quite still for a moment, then slipped away in the direction
whence she had come. Only the brilliant patches of colour on the wall
remained to hint that she had been there and would come again. Domini
sighed.
"What a lovely creature!" she said, more to herself than to Androvsky.
He did not speak, and his silence made her consciously demand his
acquiescence in her admiration.
"Did you ever see anything more beautiful and more characteristic of
Africa?" she asked.
"Madame," he said in a slow, stern voice, "I did not look at her."
Domini felt piqued.
"Why not?" she retorted.
Androvsky's face was cloudy and almost cruel.
"These native women do not interest me," he said. "I see nothing
attractive in them."
Domini knew that he was telling her a lie.
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