but yet there is something very firm, very resolute, very considerate,
in the fall of that small foot upon the carpet. She cannot intend her
foot to stay there for ever; and yet, when she sets it down, one would
be inclined to think she did. Her face is very beautiful--every feature
finely cut--the eyes almost dazzling in their dark brightness. How
chaste, how lovely the fine lines of that mouth. Yet do you see what a
habit she has of keeping the pearly teeth close shut--one pure row
pressed hard against the other. The slight sarcastic quiver of the upper
lip does not escape you; and the expanded nostril and flash of the eye,
contradicted by the fixed motionless mouth.

Such is her outward appearance, such is she too within--though the
complexion there is somewhat darker. Much that, had it been cultivated
and improved, would have blossomed into womanly virtue; a capability of
love, strong, fiery, vehement, changeless--not much tenderness--not much
pity,--no remorse--are there. Pride, of a peculiar character, but
strong, ungovernable, unforgiving, and a power of hate and thirst of
vengeance, which only pride can give, are there likewise. Super-add a
shrewdness--a policy--a cunning--nay, something greater--something
approaching the sublime--a divination, where passion is to be gratified,
that seldom leads astray from the object.

Yes, such is the interior of that fair temple, and yet, how calm, sweet,
and promising it stands.

I have omitted much perhaps; for the human heart is like the caldron of
the witches in Macbeth, and one might go on throwing in ingredients till
the audience became tired of the song. However, what I have said will be
enough for the reader's information; and if we come upon any unexplained
phenomena, I must endeavor to elucidate them hereafter.

Let us suppose the lady's interview with her housekeeper at an end--all
her domestic arrangements made--the house restored to its air of
habitation--visits received and paid. Amongst the earliest visitors were
Sir Philip and Lady Hastings. He came frankly, and in one of his most
happy moods, perfectly ignorant that she had ever been made aware of
there having been a marriage proposed between himself and her; and she
received him and his fair wife with every appearance of cordiality. But
as soon as these visits and all the ceremonies were over, the lady began
to drive much about the country, and to collect every tale and rumor she
could meet with of all th