They adored one another; they adored their father and mother; they adored their three brothers and their married sister, whose name was Julia; and they adored every nephew and niece in the connection.

Though they often quarrelled, being young and human, these quarrels rippled as lightly as summer storms over profound depths of devotion.
"Oh, I do wish," said Mary Byrd, who had "come out" triumphantly the winter before, "that Stephen would marry Margaret." She was a slender graceful girl, with red-gold hair, which had a lustrous sheen and a natural wave in it, and the brown ox-like eyes of her father.

There was a great deal of what Peyton, the second son, who lived at home, and was the most modern of the family, called "dash" about her.
"It was the war that spoiled it," said Janet, the plain one, who possessed what her mother fondly described as "a charm that was all her own." "I sometimes think the war spoiled everything." At this Victoria, the eldest, demurred mildly.

Ever since she had nursed in France, she had assumed a slightly possessive manner toward the war, as if she had in some mysterious way brought it into the world and was responsible for its reputation.

She was tall and very thin, with a perfect complexion, a long nose, and a short upper lip which showed her teeth too much when she laughed.