'
'For God's sake be quick!' I exclaimed. 'Where was it?'
'At the corner of Essex Street. A bright-eyed, bright-haired girl in
rags was standing bare-headed, holding out boxes of matches for sale,
and murmuring words of Scripture. This she was doing quite
mechanically, as it seemed, and unobservant of the crowd passing
by,--individuals of whom would stop for a moment to look at her; some
with eyes of pure admiration and some with other eyes. The squalid
attire in which she was clothed seemed to add to her beauty.'
'My poor Winnie!' I murmured, entirely overcome.
'She seemed to take as little heed of the heat and glare as of the
people, but stood there looking before her, murmuring texts from
Scripture as though she were communing with the spiritual world. Her
eyes shook and glittered in the sunshine; they seemed to emit lights
from behind the black lashes surrounding them; the ruddy lips were
quivering. There was an innocence about her brow, and yet a mystic
wonder in her eyes which formed a mingling of the child-like with the
maidenly such as--'
'Man! man! would you kill me with your description?' I cried.
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