Mellerby,--the very name of the parish being the same as that of the
family. If Sophia Mellerby did not shew breeding, what girl could shew
it? She was fair, with a somewhat thin oval face, with dark eyes, and
an almost perfect Grecian nose. Her mouth was small, and her chin
delicately formed. And yet it can hardly be said that she was beautiful.
Or, if beautiful, she was so in women's eyes rather than in those of
men. She lacked colour and perhaps animation in her countenance. She had
more character, indeed, than was told by her face, which is generally
so true an index of the mind. Her education had been as good as England
could afford, and her intellect had been sufficient to enable her to
make use of it. But her chief charm in the eyes of many consisted in the
fact, doubted by none, that she was every inch a lady. She was an only
daughter, too,--with an only brother; and as the Ancrums were all rich,
she would have a very pretty fortune of her own. Fred Neville, who had
literally been nobody before his cousin had died, might certainly do
much worse than marry her.

And after a day or two they did seem to get on very well together. He
had reached Scroope on the 21st, and on the 23rd Mrs. Neville arrived
with her youngest son Jack Neville. This was rather a trial to the Earl,
as he had never yet seen his brother's widow. He had heard when his
brother married that she was fast, fond of riding, and loud. She had
been the daughter of a Colonel Smith, with whom his brother, at that
time a Captain Neville, had formed acquaintance;--and had been a beauty
very well known as such at Dublin and other garrison towns. No real harm
had ever been known of her, but the old Earl had always felt that his
brother had made an unfortunate marriage. As at that time they had not
been on speaking terms, it had not signified much;--but there had been a
prejudice at Scroope against the Captain's wife, which by no means died
out when the late Julia Smith became the Captain's widow with two sons.