There are people whose very bodies express character; and this tall, supple, graceful frame of Bella Bruce breathed womanly subservience; so did her gestures.

She would take up or put down her own scissors half timidly, and look around before threading her needle, as if to see whether any soul objected.

Her favorite word was "May I ?" with a stress on the "May," and she used it where most girls would say "I will," or nothing, and do it.
Mr.Richard Bassett was in love with her, and also conscious that her fifteen thousand pounds would be a fine addition to his present income, which was small, though his distant expectations were great.

As he had known her but one month, and she seemed rather amiable than inflammable, he had the prudence to proceed by degrees; and that is why, though his eyes gloated on her, he merely regaled her with the gossip of the day, not worth recording here.

But when he had actually taken his hat to go, Bella Bruce put him a question that had been on her mind the whole time, for which reason she had reserved it to the very last moment.
"Is Sir Charles Bassett in town ?" said she, mighty carelessly, but bending a little lower over her embroidery.
"Don't know," said Richard Bassett, with such a sudden brevity and asperity that Miss Bruce looked up and opened her lovely eyes.