Risley looked at her beautiful face with the double radiance of the electric-light and the lamp-light from the window on it, giving it a curious effect.

It suddenly occurred to him to wonder why everybody seemed to have such an opinion as to the talents of this girl.

Why did Cynthia consider that her native ability warranted this forcible elevation of her from her own sphere and setting her on a height of education above her kind?
She looked and spoke like an ordinary young girl.

She had a beautiful face, it is true, and her shyness seemed due to the questioning attitude of a child rather than to self-consciousness, but, after all, why did she give people that impression?
Her valedictory had been clever, no doubt, and there was in it a certain fire of conviction, which, though crude, was moving; but, after all, almost any bright girl might have written it.

She had been a fine scholar, no doubt, but any girl with a ready intelligence might have done as well.