At length, just as the
curtain was rising, a young lady entered and took her seat in the much
observed box, accompanied by a gentleman of venerable and patriarchal
appearance; apparently an indulgent old uncle, a slave to the caprices
of his pretty niece, who had renounced his comfortable after-dinner nap
by the fire, in order to obey her behest and escort her to the theatre.
She, slender and erect as Diana, was very richly and elegantly dressed,
in that peculiar and exquisite shade of delicate sea green which can
be worn only by the purest blondes, and which seemed to enhance the
dazzling whiteness of her uncovered shoulders, and the rounded, slender
neck, diaphanous as alabaster, that proudly sustained her small,
exquisitely poised head. Her hair, clustering in sunny ringlets round
her brow, was like living gold, it made a glory round her head, and the
whole audience was enraptured with her beauty, though an envious mask
concealed so much of it; all, indeed, save the snow-white forehead, the
round dimpled chin, the ripe red lips, whose tint was rendered yet
more vivid by the contrast with the black velvet that shaded them,
the perfect oval of the face, and a dainty little ear, pink as a
sea-shell--a combination of charms worthy of a goddess, and which made
every one impatient to see the radiant, beauteous whole.
Pages:
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363