"Nearly six months since," said Amelius, "we had notice by letter of the arrival of an unmarried English lady, who wished to become a member of our Community.

You will understand my motive in keeping her family name a secret: even the newspaper has grace enough only to mention her by her Christian name.

I don't want to cheat you out of your interest; so I will own at once that Miss Mellicent was not beautiful, and not young.
When she came to us, she was thirty-eight years old, and time and trial had set their marks on her face plainly enough for anybody to see.
Notwithstanding this, we all thought her an interesting woman.

It might have been the sweetness of her voice; or perhaps it was something in her expression that took our fancy.

There! I can't explain it; I can only say there were young women and pretty women at Tadmor who failed to win us as Miss Mellicent did.