l, soft, and inclined to be round-about--while
her face, what shall we say? It was a face transmitted through
generations of easy, healthy, wealthy ancestors, who have occasionally
married beauties,--and yet it had a note of its own. Her sisters were
handsome, but it was reserved for her, the youngest, to strike out a new
line in the family looks and one which did not ripen quickly. So that
whereas the three elder Miss Bolderos had high noses and high foreheads,
and long, pale, aristocratic faces, varying but little from each
other--(for somehow Sue, by resembling her father, had no separate
traits)--the funny little Leonore, with her rogue's eyes, and thick
bunch of swinging curls, her chubby cheeks and dimpled chin, was for a
time entirely overlooked. It was certain she would never be
distinguished nor imposing--consequently would never contract the great
alliance General Boldero steadily kept in view for Maud or Sybil.
[_N.B._--He never contemplated a husband for Sue--never had, though she
was the handsomest of the three. Briefly, he could not do without her.]

But although he was presently obliged to confess to himself that the
little snub-nosed schoolgirl was developing some sort of impudent looks
of her own, he held them to be of such small account that it was as much
a source of wonder as of congratulation when it fell out that they had
fixed the affections of a suitor with ten thousand a year. It was
luck--it was extraordinary luck--that Mr. Godfrey Stubbs could be
content with Leo, when really if he had demanded the hand of any one of
the three it would have been folly to hold back.

We need not, however, dwell on this period. Suffice it to say that on
each recurring occasion when the general welcomed his married daughter
beneath his roof, he was secretly surprised and even faintly annoyed to
behold her prettier than before. She glowed with life and colour. She
radiated vitality. She had a knack of throwing her sisters, with their
far superior outlines, into the shade.

Even Sybil, who had something of Leo's vivacity, had none of Leo's
charm. Even Maud, rated highest in the paternal valuation, had a heavy
look. What if he had been over-hasty after all? What if the little witch
could have done better? Once or twice he had to reason with himself very
seriously before equanimity was restored.

In mind Leonore was apt, with the intelligence, and it must be added
with much of the ignorance, of a child. She was re