That she was indeed a beautiful woman I perceived, after recovering from
the surprise of finding her without the freshness of youth. Her beauty
was of a sort which, in losing youth, loses little of its essential
charm, expressed for the most part as it was in form and structure, and,
as Theobald would have said, in "composition." She was broad and ample,
low-browed and large-eyed, dark and pale. Her thick brown hair hung low
beside her cheek and ear, and seemed to drape her head with a covering as
chaste and formal as the veil of a nun. The poise and carriage of her
head were admirably free and noble, and they were the more effective that
their freedom was at moments discreetly corrected by a little
sanctimonious droop, which harmonised admirably with the level gaze of
her dark and quiet eye. A strong, serene, physical nature, and the
placid temper which comes of no nerves and no troubles, seemed this
lady's comfortable portion. She was dressed in plain dull black, save
for a sort of dark blue kerchief which was folded across her bosom and
exposed a glimpse of her massive throat. Over this kerchief was
suspended a little silver cross. I admired her greatly, and yet with a
large reserve. A certain mild intellectual apathy belonged properly to
her type of beauty, and had always seemed to round and enrich it; but
this _bourgeoise_ Egeria, if I viewed her right, betrayed a rather vulgar
stagnation of mind. There might have been once a dim spiritual light in
her face; but it had long since begun to wane. And furthermore, in plain
prose, she was growing stout. My disappointment amounted very nearly to
complete disenchantment when Theobald, as if to facilitate my covert
inspection, declaring that the lamp was very dim, and that she would ruin
her eyes without more light, rose and fetched a couple of candles from
the mantelpiece, which he placed lighted on the table. In this brighter
illumination I perceived that our hostess was decidedly an elderly woman.
She was neither haggard, nor worn, nor gray; she was simply coarse. The