Even at his best, however, Jean Jacques could not
reach within three inches of her height.
Yet he did not regard her as at all overdone because of that. He thought
her hair very fine, as it waved away from her low forehead in a grace
which reminded him of the pictures of the Empress Eugenie, and of the
sister of that monsieur le duc who had come fishing to St. Saviour's a
few years before. He thought that if her hair was let down it would
probably reach to her waist, and maybe to her ankles. She had none of the
plump, mellow softness of the beauties he had seen in the Basque country.
She was a slim and long limbed Diana, with fine lines and a bosom of
extreme youth, though she must have been twenty-one her last birthday.
The gown she wore was a dark green well-worn velvet, which seemed of too
good a make and quality for her class; and there was no decoration about
her anywhere, save at the ears, where two drops of gold hung on little
links an inch and a half long.
Jean Jacques Barbille's eyes took it all in with that observation of
which he was so proud and confident, and rested finally on the drops of
gold at her ears. Instinctively he fingered the heavy gold watch-chain he
had bought in Paris to replace the silver chain with a little crucifix
dangling, which his father and even his great-grandfather had worn before
him.
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