The warmth of the sun was accelerating, and his cap was tipped over his face: it was impossible to see his providence, or age - however his mud-soiled clothing spoke of destitution.
She hesitated at proceeding further. Perhaps it was best to turn back before he was roused to wake? Yet the dogs needed their watering, and had gone ahead of her, right up to the stranger, with their eager panting, whining and yelping enthusiastically.
“Shush” she scolded.
The two obeyed faithfully, and then returned to stand to the right and left of her. Fatima could see that the young man was watching the hounds with a broad smile on his face.
“All bones in velvet suits” he said with a tired smile.
She could see he was exhausted as he still sat there: this youth, she guessed, was but a few years older than herself, and by the look of his dark curly hair and grey eyes, there was something of the gypsy about him.
She took a stub of dried meat from her apron pocket, that she kept for the dogs and offered it to him. He accepted it gratefully. Paul appeared genuinely dismayed.
-Gabriel Brunsdon, Finding Self - Second Guesses- Azlander Series
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