Page:Watts Mumford--Whitewash.djvu/18

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WHITEWASH

gestion of pedestrians and horses took place in the rear, and the pilgrimage was profaned by remarks not intended for the ears of St. Anne. With true American independence the four girls calmly proceeded to focus their kodaks at the line of writhing wretches, who, seeing the attention they were attracting, dragged themselves nearer, whining dolorously.

"For goodness sake, move on! the smell is positively fetid!" exclaimed a brown young woman of about thirty.

"Boston, you are a born obstructionist. Get out of my picture, will you? There are horrors enough in it without you."

Of the four, Victoria Claudel was, perhaps, the most noticeable. As she often said of herself, "she was made up of odds and ends." Her small, well-shaped head was set on a full, strong throat. She had very wide shoulders, a tremendous depth of chest, suggestive of great vitality, feet unusually small, and well-formed hands, unexpectedly large. The face that shone out from the shade of a battered campaign hat showed the same irregularity—a short, straight nose, large,

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