she was accustomed to wipe
her brush, had burst open in the ardor of her work, and, with her
lance-like maulstick and her shield-like palate, gave a certain
pugnacious aspect to her good, honest face, as if she were engaged in a
struggle for the release of the enchanted princess who sat in a chair
opposite her, and who was also unusually quiet. Whether Julie was
turning over in her mind some especially serious thought, or had, like
all people sitting to a painter, merely fallen under the influence of a
certain absent-minded melancholy, it was impossible to make out.

She was especially beautiful to-day. Instead of her raw-silk dress, she
wore a lighter stuff of transparent black, through which gleamed her
white neck. Angelica had planned this in order that all the light
might be concentrated on the face; and the arrangement of the hair,
which left the contour of the head fully visible and allowed a few
simply-braided locks to flow over the shoulders, was a special
invention of the artist. Now, in the steady light, the dead white of
her complexion, and the soft blond of her hair, shone out so gently
subdued and yet so clear, and the eyes, under the brown lashes, had,
with all their softness, such a fiery sparkle, that one could
appreciate Angelica's assertion that a thing of this sort could not be
painted--gold, pearls, and sapphires were the only materials with which
to rival this fusion of color.

It is true, the first bloom of youth was passed. A keen eye could
detect a wrinkle here and there, a certain sharpness of feature, and
the easy grace with which her noble figure moved left no doubt that she
had passed those years when a girl is always turning this way and that,
like a bird on a branch, as if always on the point of fluttering away
into the unknown, tempting, beautiful life outside, or else glancing
eagerly around to see whether a hunter or trapper is in sight.

For that matter it would have been hard to conceive that this still,
reserved, charming creature had ever committed the usual school-girl
follies. But as soon as she began to speak, and especially to laugh,
her expressive face beamed with youthful merriment, her eyes, which
were a little near-sighted, slightly closed and took on a mischievous
look, and only her firm mouth retained its expression of thoughtful
determination. "The rest of your face," said Angelica at the very
first sitting, "was given you by God; for your mouth you must thank
yourself