Her artistic temperament rejoiced in the mere beauty of the scene before her--a scene to be found nowhere out of Avonsbridge--lofty, grand old rooms, resplendent with innumerable wax-lights; filled, but not too full, with an ever-moving, gorgeously-colored crowd.

Quite different from that of ordinary soires, where the coup d'oeil is that of a bed of variegated flowers, with a tribe of black emmets posed on their hind legs inserted between.
Here the gentlemen made as goodly a show as the ladies, or more so, many of them being in such picturesque costumes that they might have just stepped down from the old pictures which covered the walls.

In- numerable flowing gowns, of all shapes and colors, marked the college dons; then there were the gayly-clad gentlemen commoners, and two or three young noblemen, equally fine; while, painfully near the door, a few meek-looking undergraduates struggled under the high honor of the vice chancellor's hospitality.
As to the women, few were young, and none particularly lovely yet Christian enjoyed looking at them.

Actually, for the first time in her life, did she behold "full dress"-- the sparkle of diamonds, the delicate beauty of old point lace, the rustle of gorgeous silks and satins.

She liked it--childishly liked it.