and dull and outworn, and if the dress that it reflected was not
of plum or amber velvet, one still might fancy that she was a loyalist
daughter whose fortunes were fallen with her master's. The Limner of
the King would have rejoiced to paint the sweet, young, oval face and
little mouth; he would have found the space between the eyebrow and the
eyelid to his liking.

If the plot were still shadowy, her characters were always with her, in
armour or sprigged prints; and, the mind being its own place, she took
about a little court of her own, where dreadful tragedies were enacted,
and valorous deeds done; where passionate young love suffered and wept,
and where a mere girl of eighteen, by consummate resolution, daring,
beauty, genius, and physical strength, always righted the situation, and
brought peace at the last.

With resources such as these, the future did not present itself in dark
colours to Anastasia; nor did its riddle appear to her nearly so
undecipherable as Mr Westray had supposed. She would have resented,
with all the confidence of inexperience, _any_ attempt to furnish her
with prospects; and she resented Westray's offer all the more vigorously
because it seemed to carry with it a suggestion of her own forlorn
position, to insist unduly on her own good fortune in receiving such a
proposal, and on his condescension in making it.

There are women who put marriage in the forefront of life, whose
thoughts revolve constantly about it as a centre, and with whom an
advantageous match, or, failing that, a match of some sort, is the
primary object. There are others who regard marriage as an eventuality,
to be contemplated without either eagerness or avoidance, to be accepted
or declined according as its circumstances may be favourable or
unfavourable. Again, there are some who seem, even from youth, to
resolutely eliminate wedlock from their thoughts, to permit themselves
no mental discussion upon this subject. Though a man profess that he
will never marry, experience has shown that his resolve is often subject
to reconsideration. But with unmarrying women the case is different,
and unmarried for the most part they remain, for man is often so
weak-kneed a creature in matters of the heart, that he refrains from
pursuing where an unsympathetic attitude discourages pursuit. It may be
that some of these women, also, would wish to reconsider their verdict,
but find that they have reached an age when there is no p