ark-red eyebrows, which nearly met in the
centre but were beautifully arched, frowned threateningly, and her
clear blue eyes were now flashing with wrath. The vision attracted
rather by the vivacious charm of expression and the perfect symmetry of
her dainty figure than by regular beauty. For it must be confessed,
though the charming inquisitive little nose did not actually turn
up--by no means--it was really a little too short. And, as it sloped
sharply away at the end, the space between it and the upper lip became
too long, thereby giving the oval face when in repose an expression
half of alert surprise, half of mischievous wilfulness.

Everything about this dainty dragon-fly was so delicate that the young
girl might easily have been taken for a child, had not her rounded bust
revealed her womanhood. Wonderfully charming was the little mouth,
whose lips were so full that they seemed to pout mirthfully, while
their hue rivalled the red border of her robe. A dimple in the chin and
a slight tendency to a double chin lent the face that innocent
sweetness without which woman's beauty fails to attract.

The most remarkable thing about this elfin vision was her hair--hair
whose bright red hue was the very tint of flame--which rippled around
her brow and temples in a thousand wilful little ringlets as if each
individual one curled separately. They seemed to frame the face
protectingly, as thorns cluster about a rosebud. The rest of her locks,
after the Suabian fashion, were combed upward toward the crown, knotted
there, and then flowed in magnificent tawny waves, somewhat darker in
tint, over her dazzlingly white neck far below her waist.

The expression of saucy defiance, inquisitive surprise, nay even
superiority, enhanced by this arrangement of the hair, was still
further heightened by the little creature's habit of raising her heavy
eyebrows as if in mingled astonishment and reproof. In the charm of the
contradiction lay a temptation to smile which this fragile elf, with
her pert little nose and sparkling blue eyes, seamed to discover--and
if necessary instantly resent.

An extremely strong will, a hot, ungovernable temper, and the sweetness
of a half unfolded bud, were contrasts which provoked a smile--nay,
almost irresistibly awakened a desire to try what the impetuous little
thing would do if her swift wrath were aroused. But when she raised her
eyes with a more gentle expression, they were so bewitchingly
beautifu