fine, and glossy as a girl's, and in colour of the pale auburn, tinged
with red, which rarely alters in hue as childhood matures to man; the
complexion was dazzlingly clear and fair. Nevertheless, there was
something so hard in the lip, so bold, though not open, in the brow, that
the girlishness of complexion, and even of outline, could not leave, on
the whole, an impression of effeminacy. All the hereditary keenness and
intelligence were stamped upon his face at that moment; but the
expression had also a large share of the very irony and malice which he
had conveyed to his caricature. The drawing itself was wonderfully
vigorous and distinct; showing great artistic promise, and done with the
rapidity and ease which betrayed practice. Suddenly his father turned,
and with as sudden a quickness the boy concealed his tablet in his vest;
and the sinister expression of his face smoothed into a timorous smile as
his eye encountered Dalibard's. The father beckoned to the boy, who
approached with alacrity. "Gabriel," whispered the Frenchman, in his own
tongue, "where are they at this moment?"

The boy pointed silently towards one of the cedars. Dalibard mused an
instant, and then, slowly descending the steps, took his noiseless way
over the smooth turf towards the tree. Its boughs drooped low and spread
wide; and not till he was within a few paces of the spot could his eye
perceive two forms seated on a bench under the dark green canopy. He
then paused and contemplated them.

The one was a young man whose simple dress and subdued air strongly
contrasted the artificial graces and the modish languor of Mr. Vernon;
but though wholly without that nameless distinction which sometimes
characterizes those conscious of pure race and habituated to the
atmosphere of courts, he had at least Nature's stamp of aristocracy in a
form eminently noble, and features of manly, but surpassing beauty, which