which New England is now developing, just in time to save it
from decay. Hope was of Saxon type, though a shade less blonde
than her brother; she was a little taller, and of more
commanding presence, with a peculiarly noble carriage of the
shoulders. Her brow was sometimes criticised as being a little
too full for a woman; but her nose was straight, her mouth and
teeth beautiful, and her profile almost perfect. Her complexion
had lost by out-door life something of its delicacy, but had
gained a freshness and firmness that no sunlight could impair.
She had that wealth of hair which young girls find the most
enviable point of beauty in each other. Hers reached below her
knees, when loosened, or else lay coiled, in munificent braids
of gold, full of sparkling lights and contrasted shadows, upon
her queenly head.

Her eyes were much darker than her hair, and had a way of
opening naively and suddenly, with a perfectly infantine
expression, as if she at that moment saw the sunlight for the
first time. Her long lashes were somewhat like Emilia's, and
she had the same deeply curved eyebrows; in no other point was
there a shade of resemblance between the half-sisters. As
compared with Kate, Hope showed a more abundant physical life;
there was more blood in her; she had ampler outlines, and
health more absolutely unvaried, for she had yet to know the
experience of a day's illness. Kate seemed born to tread upon a
Brussels carpet, and Hope on the softer luxury of the forest
floor. Out of doors her vigor became a sort of ecstasy, and
she walked the earth with a jubilee of the senses, such as
Browning attributes to his Saul.