very distinctly outlined, the nose a little curved, the mouth still as
delicate as a boy's. Indeed he always retained something boyish in his
look, for all his studiousness and thoughtfulness, and all that came
later. He was not as pale as in boyhood, the sea breezes that swept in
from the bay, past the wharves, having given him some ruddiness. His
eyes, I have said, were blue, almost of a colour with Margaret's. I
was an inch or two shorter than Phil, my build was more heavy and
full, my face more of an equal width, my nose a little upturned so as
to give me an impudent look, my eyes a darkish brown.

That I was not Phil's match in sense, learning, talents, self-command,
and modesty, did not occur to me as lessening my chances with a woman.
If I lacked real wit, I had pertness; and I thought I had a manner of
dashing boldness, that must do one-half the business with any girl,
while my converse trick of softening my voice and eyes to her on
occasion, would do the other half.

But Margaret took her time before giving a hint of her heart's
condition. She was the same old comrade to us, she confided to us her
adverse opinions of other people, laughed with us, and often at us
(when it was like as not that she herself had made us ridiculous),
told us her little secrets, let us share her gaiety and her dejection
alike, teased us, soothed us, made us serve her, and played the
spoiled beauty with us to the full of the part. And a beauty she was,
indeed; ten times more than in her childhood. The bud was approaching
its full bloom. She was of the average tallness; slender at neck,
waist, wrist, and ankle, but filling out well in the figure, which had
such curves as I swear I never saw elsewhere upon earth. She had the
smallest foot, with the highest instep; such as one gets not often an
idea of in England. Her little head, with its ripples of chestnut