When a Hill girl grows lovely, she is worth traveling
fifty miles over bad ground to look upon. Lispeth had a Greek face--one of
those faces people paint so often, and see so seldom. She was of a pale, ivory
color and, for her race, extremely tall. Also, she possessed eyes that were
wonderful; and, had she not been dressed in the abominable print-cloths
affected by Missions, you would, meeting her on the hill-side unexpectedly,
have thought her the original Diana of the Romans going out to slay.
Lispeth took to Christianity readily, and did not abandon it when she reached
womanhood, as do some Hill girls. Her own people hated her because she had,
they said, become a memsahib and washed herself daily; and the Chaplain's wife
did not know what to do with her. Somehow, one cannot ask a stately goddess,
five foot ten in her shoes, to clean plates and dishes. So she played with the
Chaplain's children and took classes in the Sunday School, and read all the
books in the house, and grew more and more beautiful, like the Princesses in
fairy tales. The Chaplain's wife said that the girl ought to take service in
Simla as a nurse or something "genteel." But Lispeth did not want to take
service. She was very happy where she was.
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