"Yes, come in, dear; it's only your uncle." The door opened, Mary came in, and, in some curious quiet way, at once her personality seemed to take possession of and dominate that shaded room.

To begin with, her stature gave an idea of dominion, for, without being at all coarse, she was tall and full in frame.

The face also was somewhat massive, with a rounded chin and large, blue eyes that had a trick of looking half asleep, and above a low, broad forehead grew her waving, golden hair, parted simply in the middle after the old Greek fashion.

She wore a white dress, with a silver girdle that set off the beautiful outlines of her figure to great advantage, and with her a perfume seemed to pass, perhaps from the roses on her bosom.
"A beautiful woman," thought the Colonel to himself, as she came in, and he was no mean or inexperienced judge.

"A beautiful woman, but a regular lotus-eater." "How do you do, Uncle Richard ?" said Mary, pausing about six feet away and holding out her hand.