She is beautiful and clever; why is it no one cares for her ?" My sister looked at me uneasily.
"I cannot tell.

I wish you would not ask me, Edgar." "Nay; tell me what you think ?" "Then I fancy it must be because she is not quite sincere.

I do not like saying anything so unkind.

You must not let it prejudice you against her; but she gives me always the impression of a person who leads two lives--one that everybody sees and one that nobody understands save herself." "How old should you imagine her to be ?" I asked; and again my sister looked uneasily at me.
"We have been in the habit of considering her a young girl," she replied, "but do you know, Edgar, I believe she is more than thirty ?" "It is impossible!" I cried.

"Why, Clare, she does not look a day more than eighteen." "She is what the French people call well preserved.