Why should it be a matter of conscience?
Was she in love with Gordon Wright, and did she wish, in consequence, to forget--and wish him not to suspect--that she had ever received an expression of admiration from another man?
This was not likely; it was not likely, at least, that Miss Vivian wished to pass for a prodigy of innocence; for if to be admired is to pay a tribute to corruption, it was perfectly obvious that so handsome a girl must have tasted of the tree of knowledge.

As for her being in love with Gordon Wright, that of course was another affair, and Bernard did not pretend, as yet, to have an opinion on this point, beyond hoping very much that she might be.
He was not wrong in the impression of her good looks that he had carried away from the short interview at Siena.

She had a charmingly chiselled face, with a free, pure outline, a clear, fair complexion, and the eyes and hair of a dusky beauty.

Her features had a firmness which suggested tranquillity, and yet her expression was light and quick, a combination--or a contradiction--which gave an original stamp to her beauty.

Bernard remembered that he had thought it a trifle "bold"; but he now perceived that this had been but a vulgar misreading of her dark, direct, observant eye.