hich graceful women put into the awkward
or difficult things of their charming craft of womanhood. If mind does
truly reveal itself in all things, we may be permitted to say that
Ursula's attitude and bearing suggested divine simplicity. She was
dressed in a white cambric gown made like a wrapper, trimmed here and
there with knots of blue ribbon. The pelerine, edged with the same
ribbon run through a broad hem and tied with bows like those on the
dress, showed the great beauty of her shape. Her throat, of a pure
white, was charming in tone against the blue,--the right color for a
fair skin. A long blue sash with floating ends defined a slender waist
which seemed flexible,--a most seductive charm in women. She wore a
rice-straw bonnet, modestly trimmed with ribbons like those of the gown,
the strings of which were tied under her chin, setting off the whiteness
of the straw and doing no despite to that of her beautiful complexion.
Ursula dressed her own hair naturally (a la Berthe, as it was then
called) in heavy braids of fine, fair hair, laid flat on either side
of the head, each little strand reflecting the light as she walked.
Her gray eyes, soft and proud at the same time, were in harmony with a
finely modeled brow. A rosy tinge, suffusing her cheeks like a cloud,
brightened a face which was regular without being insipid; for nature
had given her, by some rare privilege, extreme purity of form combined
with strength of countenance. The nobility of her life was manifest in
the general expression of her person, which might have served as a model
for a type of trustfulness, or of modesty. Her health, though brilliant,
was not coarsely apparent; in fact, her whole air was distinguished.
Beneath the little gloves of a light color it was easy to imagine
her pretty hands. The arched and slender feet were delicately shod
in bronzed kid boots trimmed with a brown silk fringe. Her blue sash
holding at the waist a small flat watch and a blue purse with gilt
tassels attracted the eyes of every woman she met.

"He has given her a new watch!" said Madame Cremiere, pinching her
husband's arm.

"Heavens! is that Ursula?" cried Desire; "I didn't recognize her."

"Well, my dear uncle," said the post master, addressing the doctor and
pointing to the whole population drawn up in parallel hedges to let the
doctor pass, "everybody wants to see you."

"Was it the Abbe Chaperon or Mademoiselle Ursula who converted you,
uncle," said Mass