Everybody in the house who had seen him (the children included) she examined and cross-examined on the subject of his personal appearance, as she had already examined and cross-examined me.

His features and his color, his height and his breadth; his ornaments and his clothes--on all these points she collected evidence, in every direction and in the smallest detail.

It was an especial relief and delight to her to hear, on all sides, that his complexion was fair.

There was no reasoning with her against her blind horror of dark shades of color, whether seen in men, women, or things.
She was quite unable to account for it; she could only declare it.
"I have the strangest instincts of my own about some things," she said to me one day.

"For instance, I knew that Oscar was bright and fair--I mean I felt it in myself--on that delightful evening when I first heard the sound of his voice.