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The Chaplet of Pearls by Charlotte Mary Yonge
page 30 of 671 (04%)
deep blue eyes, very fair hair cut short and brushed up to a crest
upon the middle of his head, a complexion of red and white that all
the air of the downs and the sea failed to embrown, and that
peculiar openness and candour of expression which seems so much an
English birthright, that the only trace of his French origin was,
that he betrayed no unbecoming awkwardness in the somewhat
embarrassing position in which he was placed, literally standing,
according to the respectful discipline of the time, as the subject
of discussion, before the circle of his elders. His colour was
indeed, deepened, but his attitude was easy and graceful, and he
used no stiff rigidity nor restless movements to mask his anxiety.
At Sir Marmaduke's desire, he could not but redden a good deal
more, but with a clear, unhesitating voice, he translated, the
letter that he had received from the Chevalier de Ribaumont, who,
by the Count's death, had become Eustacie's guardian. It was a
request in the name of Eustacie and her deceased father, that
Monsieur le Baron de Ribaumont--who, it was understood, had
embraced the English heresy--would concur with his spouse in
demanding from his Holiness the Pope a decree annulling the
childish marriage, which could easily be declared void, both on
account of the consanguinity of the parties and the discrepancy of
their faith; and which would leave each of them free to marry
again.

'Nothing can be better,' exclaimed his mother. 'How I have longed
to free him from that little shrew, whose tricks were the plague of
my life! Now there is nothing between him and a worthy match!'

'We can make an Englishman of him now to the backbone,' added Sir
Marmaduke, 'and it is well that it should be the lady herself who
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