Taking off her cherry-colored cap, to replace it by a Madras kerchief, the
Creole displayed her thick and magnificent hair of bluish black, which,
divided in the middle of her forehead, and naturally curled, descended no
lower than the junction of the neck with the shoulders. One must know the
inimitable taste with which a Creole twists around her head these
handkerchiefs, to have an idea of the graceful appearance, and of the
piquant contrast of this tissue, variegated purple, azure, and orange, with
her black hair, which, escaping from the close folds, surrounds with its
large, silky curls her pale, but plump and firm cheeks.

Her arms raised above her head, she finished, with her slender ivory
fingers, arranging a large bow, placed very low on the left side, almost on
the ear. Her features are of the kind it is impossible ever to forget.

A bold forehead, slightly projecting, surmounted a visage of perfect oval,
her complexion of a dead white, the satin-like freshness of a camellia
imperceptibly touched by a ray of the sun; her eyes of a size almost
immoderate, have a singular expression, for the pupil, extremely large,
black, and brilliant, hardly allows the transparent pale blue of the eye
ball to be seen from the corners of her eyelids, fringed with long lashes;
her chin is perfect; her nose, fine and straight, is terminated by nostrils
dilating at each emotion; her lovely impudent mouth is of a lively red.

Let one imagine this pale face, with its sparkling black glances, its red,
moist, and glossy lips, which shine like wet coral.

Let us say that this tall Creole, slender, fleshy, strong and active as a
panther, was the type of that sensuality which is only lighted up by the
fires of the tropics. Such was Cecily.