解説　場面 146「小道の女性」

I could not doubt that this was the Miss Stapleton of whom I had been told, since ladies of any sort must be few upon the moor, and I remembered that I had heard someone describe her as being a beauty. The woman who approached me was certainly that, and of a most uncommon type. There could not have been a greater contrast between brother and sister, for Stapleton was neutral tinted, with light hair and grey eyes, while she was darker than any brunette whom I have seen in England—slim, elegant, and tall. She had a proud, finely cut face, so regular that it might have seemed impassive were it not for the sensitive mouth and the beautiful dark, eager eyes. With her perfect figure and elegant dress she was, indeed, a strange apparition upon a lonely moorland path. Her eyes were on her brother as I turned, and then she quickened her pace towards me. I had raised my hat and was about to make some explanatory remark when her own words turned all my thoughts into a new channel.

これが、聞いていたステイプルトン嬢に違いないと思った。荒れ地には女の人自体が少ないはずだったし、美人だと誰かが評したのを覚えていたからだ。近づいてきた女は、確かに、しかも非常に珍しい型の美人だった。兄妹の対照はこれ以上なく大きかった。ステイプルトンは淡い髪と灰色の目で目立たぬ色合いだったが、彼女はイングランドで見たどの黒髪の女性よりも濃い色合いで、細く、優雅で、背が高かった。気位の高い、すっきりした顔は、感受性豊かな口元と美しい黒い熱心な目がなければ、無表情にさえ見えそうなほど整っていた。均整の取れた姿と優雅な服は、寂しい荒れ地の小道では、実に不思議な出現だった。振り向いた時、彼女の目は兄に向いていたが、それから私へ歩調を速めた。私は帽子を取り、何か説明を言おうとしたが、彼女自身の言葉が、私の考えをすべて別の流れへ変えた。