He marched to the little shed, bearing the trunk, as it had been the crown regalia, on outstretched arms, and Nette, wringing her hair and murmurmg incoherent abnegations concerning her unworthiness of the mauve mysteries, followed nevertheless. 83 

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Repeating sternly his injunctions as to the value of thorough rub-downs, he left her, and falling upon the suit case, which he prophetically connected with the comforting masculine hat box, he carried it behind the shed, and at a chivalrous distance opened it Then in that deserted wood there was a silence, like that which fell in heaven, for the space of half an hour and, it may be, a little longer. At the end of this silence there appeared from behind a large oak a very dignified and handsome young gentleman attired, perhaps a thought impractically for his surroundings, in a fleckless frock coat with the appurtenances usually 84 thereto accredited by our leading metropolitan tailors, such as stiffly creased grey trousers, patent-leather shoes, and delicate gloves dangled in the hand. Walking somewhat mincingly, this gentleman, elaborately backing around the shed and apparently not observing it, sought a rubber-incased hat box lying on the ground, and stooping gingerly, unclasped it, drew from it a glossy, black hat, and after a few affectionate strokings, which, applied to its surface, could but recall to any student of literature the painting of the lily, placed the same upon his sleek head with an absorbed and even slightly terrified expression, which melted slowly into one of deep satisfaction. After this he coughed politely and prepared to back again around the little hut. In this operation he was, however, interrupted by a soft tug at one of his almost 85 too perfect coat tails. 

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"I look very well, too, I think," said a hesitating, sweet voice, and in an instant he was bareheaded before her. 

Charming as Nette had appeared in her simple walking dress, Antony was utterly unprepared for the picture she now presented. In the absurd and yet wonderfully effective setting of the brown, budding trees, the broken and forbidding rocks, against the dull background of the dingy, decaying hut, her soft, pale tints of hat and gown gleamed like some one of the perfumed daintinesses Watteau traced upon his tricksy, tempting court fans. The whole costume, from the sweeping cavalier feather to the saucy, buckled slippers, recalled subtly that delightful pretense at Arcadia, that amusing pastoral figuring and posturing that 

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