Like the inconsistency of the wind that chased the clouds across the sky, only to pause the next moment as if to survey the chaos of the churning earth in peace, this face evoked many different reactions in Sidney. The play of shadows for the sun's favour, rested for a moment as their gazes met.
Dark, promising seas. Like the unknown depths of the ocean. They glittered with energy and hope, like the source of a small stream that did not yet realise it would eventually grow into a huge river.
Sidney furrowed his brows in wonder that he was having such strangely peaceful thoughts. Lately, looking at a face for pure pleasure had become a rarity. If he had to equally endure close observation, it was usually for reasons of whether he was really as strong as his appearance suggested. Whether he was honest or like his brother. And whether his word could be trusted.
Apparently he couldn't even trust himself right now. When he wanted to avert his gaze and yet prevented himself from doing so. The contrasts he read there in this fine face were too interesting. Big naive eyes that seemed to sparkle with intelligence. A fine nose above almost indecently full lips. The ladylike flushed cheeks and the proudly, almost cheekily, raised chin. Upright, like a lady from a noble family, the dark hair swirled untamed in her face, like that of a young wild girl.
Reluctantly, the sun slowly slipped behind a cloud, grazing the young maid's dress with a single ray as if to smooth it down. Nobly white and, on second glance, sprinkled with splashes of the nut-brown earth. When she tore her gaze away from his, he felt something inside that he could not name.
As if she had not noticed his gaze, she greeted the workers' wives and gave them each a wicker basket with a small snack. An indifferent business-like air surrounded her, which gave way to a sunlit laugh as she joked with one of the children.
Astonishment at this wholehearted tone softened his features for the length of a single blink before his heart was once again full of shadows. Sidney managed to turn away, the memory of Tom's children again weighing heavily on his chest, wondering how they were coping with all this grief.
Only slowly could Sidney rid himself of the sadness again. Nevertheless, he now stood in the dark silhouette of the shelter, there he felt the chill of the wind creep transitionally all the way under his skin. The warmth that the sight of this pretty farm girl had left unnoticed was instantly forgotten.
One of the men jostled Sidney as he scurried past him into one of the huts apparently reserved for the single men. By now he had learned to ignore it when the men bumped into him on purpose, deliberately knocking over his cup of wine or dropping one of his freshly laundered shirts off the clothesline into the dirt. It was their way of showing him that he was not one of them. That they did not accept him and were reluctant to share their bread and accommodation with him.
Some were uneducated, could not even read their name or put their signature under a document so that the scrawl could be identified as their name. His help in explaining to them the contracts they so thoughtlessly signed, they disliked, were downright offended. Even after he had convicted the overseer of fraud at their last workplace, a farm where they had worked during the spring harvest, most of them continued to exclude him. The good words of the boss of their crew had not helped, nor had the recalculated higher salary.
They were only too happy to see him fail, the fine gentleman. After all, they thought they all knew the truth. About the affair with Tom. Just because they had heard the story, whose debt Sidney had to pay off, they thought they could judge who he was as well. A despicable gentleman. Even though he got just as dirty, his hands equally calloused, his back just as aching.
Sidney still remembered the evening when the men had passed the time with little boxing matches and had all bet against him. How they had laughed in satisfaction and called him the worst names when he had received an unexpected blow from his opponent. How they had fallen angrily silent when he won every one of his fights afterwards.
