Astra Receives a Compliment

He went on: "You are so very beautiful that I can understand why the sculptor wanted to depict you in the nude." Astra might have blushed at the compliment, had she had any blood-carrying capilleries beneath her skin with which to do so.

"The workmanship is remarkable. Even the slightest detail seems to have been faithfully reproduced. Whoever commissioned the work must have been very pleased."

Taking a few steps backwards, he surveyed her from head to foot, and for the first time noticed her boots. "How strange! Why sculpt you nude but then portray you wearing boots? Did they perhaps have some religious significance? Or were you intended as a very imaginative advertisement for a cobbler?"

1. Eventually the shepherd turned to go.
2. Eventually the shepherd turned to go. For the first time, he noticed a couple of bootprints in a nearby patch of soft ground. Because of Astra's weight they were more deeply impressed than a human's footprints would have been.
3. The shephered's musings had indicated that he was considerably more intelligent than Astra had expected. She changed her mind, and decided that she would try to communicate with him after all.

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