The shoulders and neck were protected from the evening air by an ample scarf, which yet did not hide them.
In the glance he gave her, Ben-Hur paid no attention to these details.
There was simply an impression made upon him; and, like strong light, it was a sensation, not a thing of sight or enumeration.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks.

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for, lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land--such was the impression she made upon him translated into words.
"Come," she said, observing him stop, "come, or I shall think you a poor sailor." The red of his cheek deepened.

Did she know anything of his life upon the sea?
He descended to the platform at once.
"I was afraid," he said, as he took the vacant seat before her.
"Of what ?" "Of sinking the boat," he replied, smiling.
"Wait until we are in deeper water," she said, giving a signal to the black, who dipped the oars, and they were off.
If love and Ben-Hur were enemies, the latter was never more at mercy.

The Egyptian sat where he could not but see her; she, whom he had already engrossed in memory as his ideal of the Shulamite.