Even the marvellous vital beauty of Dorothy could not compare with this girl's fair, pale loveliness.

It seemed to be almost a profanation for me to admire the sweet oval of her face.

Upon her alabaster skin, the black eyebrows, the long lashes, the faint blue veins and the curving red lips stood in exquisite relief.

While she was descending the stairs, I caught a gleam of her round, snowy forearm and wrist; and when my eyes sought the perfect curves of her form disclosed by the clinging silk gown she wore, I felt that I had sinned in looking upon her, and I was almost glad she could not see the shame which was in my face.
"Cousin Malcolm, are you waiting ?" she asked from midway in the staircase.
"Yes, I am at the foot of the steps," I answered.
"I called you 'Cousin Malcolm,'" she said, holding out her hand when she came near me.

"Pardon me; it was a slip of the tongue.