s. For Mrs.
Rutherford required in her personal attendant talents which are
generally supposed to be conflicting: esteeming her health very
delicate, she wished to be minutely watched and guarded by an
experienced nurse, a nurse who should take to heart conscientiously the
responsibilities of her charge; yet at the same time she cherished that
deep interest in the constantly changing arcana of feminine attire for
which it is supposed that only a skilful but probably immoral Parisian
can suffice.

But the keen New England eyes of Minerva Poindexter had an instant
appreciation of such characteristics of arriving fashions as could be
gracefully adopted by her handsome mistress, whose best points she
thoroughly understood, and even in a certain way admired, though as
regarded herself, and indeed all the rest of womankind, she approved
rigidly of that strict neutrality of surface, that ignoring of all
merely corporeal points, which is so striking a characteristic of the
monastic heavenly paintings of Fra Angelico. At the same moment,
however, that her New England eyes were exercising their natural talent,
her New England conscience, equally keen, made her a nurse of unmatched
qualities, albeit she was perhaps something of a martinet. But with
regard to her health Mrs. Rutherford rather liked to be domineered over.
She liked to be followed about by shawls (her shawls were always
beautiful, never having that niggardly, poverty-stricken aspect which
such feminine draperies, when reserved for use in the house, are apt to
assume); she liked to be vigilantly watched with regard to draughts; she
liked to have her pulse felt, to have cushions, handsomely covered in
rich colors, placed behind her well-dressed back. Especially did she
like to be presented, at fixed hours, with little tea-spoonfuls of
homoeopathic medicine, which did not taste badly, but which,
nevertheless, it always required some urging to induce her to take; the
urging--in fact, the whole system, regularly persevered in--could give
variety to the dullest day.

After greeting his aunt, Winthrop turned to speak to Celestine. By way
of reply Celestine gave a short nod, and looked in another direction. In
reality she was delighted with his notice, but this was her way of
showing it. The two boys, Evert Winthrop and Lansing Harold, Mrs.
Rutherford's nephews, had been her pets from childhood; but even in the
old days her manner towards them had always been so curt and t