Naturally cold and reserved, she was very uncommunicative--a fact that pained Hulda and Joel not a little.

But with that respect for the head of the family innate in Northern lands, they made no attempt to break down a reserve which was eminently distasteful to them.

Besides, Dame Hansen never asked aid or counsel, being firmly convinced of the infallibility of her own judgment, for she was a true Norwegian in that respect.
Dame Hansen was now about fifty years old.

Advancing age had not bowed her tall form, though it had whitened her hair; nor had it dimmed the brightness of her dark-blue eyes, whose azure was reflected in the clear orbs of her daughter; but her complexion had taken on the yellow hue of old parchment, and a few wrinkles were beginning to furrow her forehead.
The madame, as they say in Scandinavia, was invariably attired in a full black skirt, for she had never laid aside her mourning since her husband's death.

Below the shoulder-straps of a brown bodice appeared the long full sleeves of an unbleached cotton chemise.