hide this full white neck, but always kept it uncovered. Her
finely moulded bust surmounting a slender waist and small hips,
her rounded arms, her long hands, her graceful carriage, in her
tightly-fitting dress, formed such a striking picture that one did
more than look--one was obliged to study her, When the elegance
and beauty of her dress were taken into account, one realised how
much intelligence and artistic taste had here been exercised.

She was friendly in society, natural and composed, always occupied
with something, always with that wondering expression. She spoke
very little, but her words were always well chosen.

All this, and her general disposition, made people chary of
opposing her, more especially those who knew how intelligent she
was and how much knowledge she possessed.

She had no friends of her own, but her innumerable relations
supplied her with society, gossip, and flattery, and were at once
her friends and body-guard. She would have had to go abroad to be
alone.

Among these relations she was a princess: they not only paid her
homage, but had sworn by "Life and Death" that she must marry
without more ado, which was absolutely against her wish.

From her childhood she had been laying by money, but the amount of
her savings was far less than her relations supposed. This rather
mythical fortune contributed not a little to the fact that "every
one" was in love with her. Not only the bachelors of the family,
that was a matter of course, but artists and amateurs, even the