in the hero are sufficient to doom the heroine for all
posterity."

The peculiar views of Eleanor's aunt did not prevent her from being an
agreeable acquaintance. Although she believed in the intellectual
capacity of woman, she did not look upon herself as a representative of
the class: her admiration of her sex did not degenerate into
self-laudation, and her enthusiasm was not tainted by egotism. Hers was
not a strong-mindedness that showed itself in ungainly coiffures and
tasteless attire. It was content with desiring and claiming for woman
whatever is best, noblest and most lovely in mind and body. She would
have given her life to further this end, but thought it mattered little
if her name were forgotten in the bulletin that announced success to the
cause.

Owing to her extreme reserve in talking of herself, it was very
gradually that I gained this knowledge of Miss Willmanson's character;
but many of her opinions were received at second hand from Eleanor, who
admired her aunt greatly, and never tired of quoting her. It was she who
told me that this talented lady was engaged upon a book the title of
which was _Footsteps of Women in All Ages_. The aunt returned this
admiration in no stinted measure, and her highest ambition seemed
centred in her niece.

Eleanor was a tall, well-formed, unaffected girl, with a clear olive
complexion; a slight rose-colored bloom on cheeks and lips; deep blue
eyes, rather purple than blue, rather amethyst than purple, that looked
every one candidly in the face; and hair reminding you of late
twilight--a shade that, though dark, still bore traces of having once
been light, even sunny.

As to her acquirements, however, what in the older lady was love of
information, in the younger appeared to be what Pepys called a "curious
curiosity." If she had been obliged to investigate a subject by constant
labor, I doubt whether she would have stood the test. At school she was
a parlor-boarder, attended outside lectures on the sciences, went to
concerts and the opera, frequented museums, had small blank-books in
which she took voluminous notes, and was constantly busy with some new
scheme of improvement. In looking at her I often thought that could her
aunt's dreams be realized, could her intellect ever approach the unusual
symmetry and beauty of her face and form, it would indeed be an
achievement. But was it likely that Nature, who is so grudging of her
gifts, after having endowed her so high