quisitely formed, with a soft
creamy complexion, with a slight faint rose colour on the cheeks, and a
more vivid red on the pouting lips, finely-shaped brown eyes, and a
profusion of rippling dark brown hair, she certainly offered the
fairest possible excuse for her husband's marrying beneath his
rank--both social and intellectual. Such beauty as Mrs. Phillips's is a
power, and Jane felt how difficult it would be to take high ground with
so exquisite a creature. As Mr. Brandon said, she was handsomer than
ever; the girlish beauty of sixteen, which she possessed when she
captivated Mr. Phillips, had matured into the perfect beauty of
womanhood. Though the mother of five children, she was not, and
certainly did not look, twenty-seven. Emily was not so regularly
handsome as her mother, but had more animation and more play of
feature. Harriett would have been considered a pretty child in any
other family, but she was quite a plain one in this.

No sooner had Mr. Phillips entered his house than Emily clung round his
neck; Harriett mounted on one knee and played with his hair; Constance
got on the other to have a little similar amusement with his beard and
whiskers; Hubert clamoured for a ride on papa's foot; and little Eva
cried to leave her nurse's arms to be taken up by him too.

"I was very glad to hear from Mr. Phillips, that you was coming, Miss
Melville; the trouble of the house and the row of the children make it
far too much for me, and when one comes home to England for a holiday,
they want to have some peace,' said Mrs. Phillips. 'Now, Miss Emily,
you must be on your good behaviour, now Miss Melville's come to be your
governess."

"I'm sure I shan't behave any better to her than to my own dear papa,"
said Emily, with a storm of kisses.

"You're getting up to be a great girl. I'm sure Miss Melville will be
quite shocked at your backwardness."

"She is a bush child," said Mr. Brandon, "and has been running wild all
her life; you must excuse her for the present, but we hope to see great
improvement."

"I am much afraid you will be disappointed, you dear old boy," said
Emily, who had left her father and come up to Mr. Brandon, who was her
particular favourite. "Keep your spirits up as well as you can; I am
not going to be like your wonderful nephews and nieces at Ashfield. I
never saw such ignorant children; they did not know how to make dirt
pies, nor could they jump across the ditch, or get up by the trees to