As she sat down beside Miss Raeburn the contrast between her and Lord Maxwell's sister was sufficiently striking.

Miss Raeburn was short, inclined to be stout, and to a certain gay profusion in her attire.

Her cap was made of a bright silk handkerchief edged with lace; round her neck were hung a number of small trinkets on various gold chains; she abounded too in bracelets, most of which were clearly old-fashioned mementos of departed relatives or friends.

Her dress was a cheerful red verging on crimson; and her general air suggested energy, bustle, and a good-humoured common sense.
Lady Winterbourne, on the other hand, was not only dressed from head to foot in severe black without an ornament; her head and face belonged also to the same impression, as of some strong and forcible study in black and white.

The attitude was rigidly erect; the very dark eyes, under the snowy and abundant hair, had a trick of absent staring; in certain aspects the whole figure had a tragic, nay, formidable dignity, from which one expected, and sometimes got, the tone and gesture of tragic acting.