Whether she were truly an invalid nobody knew; she presented certainly a most healthy appearance with her shell-pink cheeks, her snow-white hair, her firm bosom rising and falling with such gentle regularity beneath the tight and shining black silk that covered it, her clear bright eyes like shining glass.
She always sat in a deep arm-chair covered with the chintz of the curtains and filled with plump pillows of pink silk.

A white filmy shawl was spread over her knees, at her throat was a little bright coquettish blue bow that added, amazingly, to the innocent charm of her old age.

On her white hair, crinkled and arranged as though it were some ornament, not quite a wig but still apart from the rest of her body, she wore a lace cap.

She was fond of knitting; she made warm woollen comforters and underclothing for the children of the poor.

She was immensely fond of conversation, being of an inquisitive nature.