They were portraits--a lady and a gentleman, both costumed in the fashion of twenty years ago.

The gentleman was in the shade.

I could not see him well.

The lady had the benefit of a full beam from the softly shaded lamp.

I presently recognised her; I had seen this picture before in childhood; it was my mother; that and the companion picture being the only heir-looms saved out of the sale of my father's property.
"The face, I remembered, had pleased me as a boy, but then I did not understand it; now I knew how rare that class of face is in the world, and I appreciated keenly its thoughtful, yet gentle expression.