She carried a spring bouquet of wild onions _en branche_--ornaments (of
course), diamonds.
Every one remarked that Jane was simply too lovely for words, as, with the
sweet simplicity of an _ingenue, en combinaison_ with the craft of a
Machiavella (I beg to point out that I know my Italian genders), she
draped her lissom form in the clinging folds of an enormous habit _de peau
de brebis_--portions of ear and the tip of her nose tilted over the edge
of the deep turned-up collar, which, on one side, supported the coquettish
droop of the hairy "Tammy" that, dexterously pinned to the spikes of a
diamond fender, gave a _clou_ to the entire "_sac d'artifice_."
Walter, having already shot two bara singh and a serow, came under the
"statute of limitations" of the Kashmir Game Laws, and had to sound the
"cease firing" as regards these animals; but Charlotte and I, having
"khubbar" of game, started at 7 A.M. in pursuit. She, attended by Walter
and in tow of Asna (the best shikari in all Kashmir), followed up the
nullah which lay to our right, while I deflected to the north. Having
donned grass shoes, I started off up a very steep slope which rose
directly behind the camp. Reaching snow within a few minutes of leaving my
tent, I was glad to find it hard and the going good, the early sun not yet
having had time to soften and destroy the crisp surface.
Up and up we toiled, I puffing like any grampus--partly by reason of not
yet being in good condition, and partly on account of the height, which
was probably nearly 9000 feet above sea level.
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