noon
Had it been possessed by a man it would surely have driven him to the tented field for his profession . But the greatest glory of Beulah Sands was her eyes -- large , full , very gray , very blue , vivid with all the glamour of her personality , full of smiles and tears and spirituality and passion ; one instant , frankly innocent , they illuminated the face of a blonde Madonna ; the next , seen through the extraordinary , long , jet-black eye-lashes underneath the finely pencilled black brows , they caressed , coquetted , allured . I afterward found much of this girl 's purely physical fascination lay in this strange blending of English fairness with Andalusian tints , though the abiding quality of her charm was surely in an exaltation of spirit of which she might make the dullest conscious . As she stood looking at Bob in my office that long-ago noon , gracefully at ease in a suit of gray , with a gray-feathered turban on her head , and tiny lace bands at neck and wrist , she was very exquisite , exceedingly dainty , and , though Southerner of Southerners , very unlike the typical brunette girl who comes out of Dixie land . This girl who came into our office that July Saturday , just in time to interfere with the outing Bob Brownley and I had laid out , and who was destined to divert my chum 's heretofore smooth-flowing river of existence and turn it into an alternation of roaring rushes and deadly calms , was truly the most exquisite creature one could conceive of , I know my thought must have been Bob 's too , for his eyes were riveted on her face . She dropped the black lashes like a veil as she went on : `` Mr. Brownley , I have just come from Sands Landing . I am very anxious to talk with you on a business matter .