What constantly astonished him, as she moved and talked under his eye, was the girl's beauty.

Surely she had been a plain child, though a striking one.

But now she had not only beauty, but the air of beauty.

The self-confidence given by the possession of good looks was very evident in her behaviour.

She was very accomplished, too, and more clever than was always quite agreeable to a father whose self-conceit was one of the few compensations left him by misfortune.