morrow, they must have made a handsome picture. Kate was at this time a
lithe and graceful figure, slightly above the medium height, and
possessing a great deal of "style;" in fact, young as she was, she had
been for some time regarded as a model of fashion and deportment by all
the aspiring young women within a radius of twenty miles. She was dressed
on this evening in a gown of some thin, white material, the frilled hem of
which failed by at least six inches to reach the floor, thereby displaying
a pair of arched feet and slender ankles, clothed in open-work silk
stockings. The skirt of this gown began immediately beneath the arms, and
every contour of the wearer's form could be traced through its
close-fitting and diaphanous folds. Miss Battledown's arms were bare, save
for the black silk netted mittens that she wore; her dark curling hair was
gathered pyramidally on the top of her head, and fastened with a black
ribbon; a black velvet band encircled her white throat, and there was a
row of black bows down the front of her dress. Her forehead was narrow and
compact, her large brown eyes were perhaps a trifle closer together than
they should have been, her nose was delicate, her lips blunt-cornered and
rather full than thin; the whole expression of her face spirited and
commanding. As for Archibald, he was a handsome vacancy, so to speak; a
fine physical man wasted for lack of a spiritual man to carry him about
and use him. His regular, finely moulded face, with its healthy pallor and
its black eyes and hair, always had a dim, pathetic look of having
forgotten something. His figure, symmetrical and full of strength, moved
itself awkwardly and unmeaningly, as though ignorant of its own
capabilities, and rather encumbered than otherwise by their redundance.
His smile, which drew his features into their handsomest attitude, was
nevertheless rather silly, and seemed to last on after he himself had
forgotten what he was smiling for. His hands--strong, well-formed hands of
the slender and long-fingered type--hung helplessly at the end of his
arms; or, if he attempted to use them, each finger appeared to have a