They were a good-looking family, and she was the fairest of them all.

Her eyes were dark and very shrewd, under their straight black brows; her face was delicate in colouring and outline; her hair was red-gold and abundant.

Moreover, she was clever in a strictly practical sense.

She enjoyed life in spite of straitened circumstances.

And she possessed a serenity of temperament that no amount of adversity ever seemed to ruffle.
Having obtained the desired glimpse of her sister's face, she returned without comment to the very worn stocking that she was repairing.
"I had a talk with Jim Freeman the other day," she said.