as they widened and ceased

It struck the water, and the ripples spread out and out. 　　Hewet looked down too. 　　"It's wonderful," he said, as they widened and ceased. The freshnessand the newness seemed to him wonderful. He threw a pebble next. 　　There was scarcely any sound. 　　"But England," Rachel murmured in the absorbed tone of one whose eyesare concentrated upon some sight. "What d'you want with England?""My friends chiefly," he said, "and all the things one does."He could look at Rachel without her noticing it. She was stillabsorbed in the water and the exquisitely pleasant sensationswhich a little depth of the sea washing over rocks suggests. 　　He noticed that she was wearing a dress of deep blue colour, made ofa soft thin cotton stuff, which clung to the shape of her body. 　　It was a body with the angles and hollows of a young woman's bodynot yet developed, but in no way distorted, and thus interestingand even lovable. Raising his eyes Hewet observed her head;she had taken her hat off, and the face rested on her hand. 　　As she looked down into the sea, her lips were slightly parted. 　　The expression was one of childlike intentness, as if she werewatching for a fish to swim past over the clear red rocks. 　　Nevertheless her twenty-four years of life had given her a lookof reserve. Her hand, which lay on the ground, the fingers curlingslightly in, was well shaped and competent; the square-tippedand nervous fingers were the fingers of a musician. With somethinglike anguish Hewet realised that, far from being unattractive,her body was very attractive to him. She looked up suddenly. 　　Her eyes were full of eagerness and interest. 　　"You write novels?" she asked. 　　For the moment he could not think what he was saying. He wasovercome with the desire to hold her in his arms.