legant corselet, made of sky-blue velvet, as dainty as
that of a dragon-fly, enclosed the bust like a guimpe and compressed it,
delicately modelling the outline as it seemed to flatten; it moulded the
shoulders, the back, the waist, with the precision of a drawing made by
an able draftsman, ending around the neck in an oblong curve, adorned
at the edges with a slight embroidery in brown silks, leaving to view
as much of the bare throat as was needed to show the beauty of her
womanhood, but not enough to awaken desire. A full brown skirt,
continuing the lines already drawn by the velvet waist, fell to her feet
in narrow flattened pleats. Her figure was so slender that Gabrielle
seemed tall; her arms hung pendent with the inertia that some deep
thought imparts to the attitude. Thus standing, she presented a living
model of those ingenuous works of statuary a taste for which prevailed
at that period,--works which obtained admiration for the harmony of
their lines, straight without stiffness, and for the firmness of
a design which did not exclude vitality. No swallow, brushing the
window-panes at dusk, ever conveyed the idea of greater elegance of
outline.

Gabrielle's face was thin, but not flat; on her neck and forehead ran
bluish threads showing the delicacy of a skin so transparent that the
flowing of the blood through her veins seemed visible. This excessive
whiteness was faintly tinted with rose upon the cheeks. Held beneath a
little coif of sky-blue velvet embroidered with pearls, her hair, of an
even tone, flowed like two rivulets of gold from her temples and played
in ringlets on her neck, which it did not hide. The glowing color of
those silky locks brightened the dazzling whiteness of the neck, and
purified still further by its reflections the outlines of the face
already so pure. The eyes, which were long and as if pressed between
their lids, were in harmony with the delicacy of the head and body;
their pearl-gray tints were brilliant without vivacity, candid without
passion. The line of the nose might have seemed cold, like a steel
blade, without two rosy nostrils, the movements of which were out
of keeping with the chastity of that dreamy brow, often perplexed,
sometimes smiling, but always of an august serenity. An alert little ear
attracted the eye, peeping beneath the coif and between two curls, and
showing a ruby ear-drop, the color of which stood vigorously out on the
milky whiteness of the neck. This was