lly comprehended what I would here imply
by the word--"romance" and "womanliness" seem to me convertible terms:
and, after all, what man truly loves in woman, is simply her womanhood.
The eyes of Annie (I heard some one from the interior call her "Annie,
darling!") were "spiritual grey;" her hair, a light chestnut: this is
all I had time to observe of her.

At her most courteous of invitations, I entered--passing first into a
tolerably wide vestibule. Having come mainly to observe, I took notice
that to my right as I stepped in, was a window, such as those in front
of the house; to the left, a door leading into the principal room;
while, opposite me, an open door enabled me to see a small apartment,
just the size of the vestibule, arranged as a study, and having a large
bow window looking out to the north.

Passing into the parlor, I found myself with Mr. Landor--for this,
I afterwards found, was his name. He was civil, even cordial in his
manner, but just then, I was more intent on observing the arrangements
of the dwelling which had so much interested me, than the personal
appearance of the tenant.

The north wing, I now saw, was a bed-chamber, its door opened into the
parlor. West of this door was a single window, looking toward the brook.
At the west end of the parlor, were a fireplace, and a door leading into
the west wing--probably a kitchen.

Nothing could be more rigorously simple than the furniture of the
parlor. On the floor was an ingrain carpet, of excellent texture--a
white ground, spotted with small circular green figures. At the windows
were curtains of snowy white jaconet muslin: they were tolerably full,
and hung decisively, perhaps rather formally in sharp, parallel plaits
to the floor--just to the floor. The walls were prepared with a French
paper of great delicacy, a silver ground, with a faint green cord
running zig-zag throughout. Its expanse was relieved merely by three
of Julien's exquisite lithographs a trois crayons, fastened to the wall
without frames. One of these drawings was a scene of Oriental luxury, or
rather voluptuousness; another was a "carnival piece," spirited
beyond compare; the third was a Greek female head--a face so divinely
beautiful, and yet of an expression so provokingly indeterminate, never
before arrested my attention.

The more substantial furniture consisted of a round table, a few chairs
(including a large rocking-chair), and a sofa, or rather "settee;" its
materi