She was trying to find a book. Her profile struck him immediately—fine-boned, aristocratic, and somehow familiar—and when she turned he felt a slight disappointment. She was not quite as beautiful as he had imagined. Nevertheless he could not take his eyes off her. "What happened to the GS seven hundreds?" she asked. "It just stops at six ninety." "Across?" He suggested the opposite shelf. "No." Her voice was wonderful with a breathy rasp around the perfect elocution. She wore a tartan plaid skirt and a cashmere sweater. "Ah." He closed his book and stood up. " Maybe the side shelves. They start over here." Although Cadbury was a men's school it was not unusual to see young women from nearby Hollifield College around the campus. Hollifield was an elite Episcopal school, rumored to be superior to Cadbury, which did not stop the girls from coming over to take certain advanced courses, or from dating Cadbury boys. The schools enjoyed what was called a special relationship. "Here they are," she said, and knelt to read the numbers, The gesture moved him for some reason, a combination of trust—since sue was only inches away from him—vulnerability, and unselfconscious grace.
