Her mouth was
perhaps faulty in being too small, or, at least, her lips were
too thin. There was wanting from the mouth that expression of
eager-speaking truthfulness which full lips will often convey. Her
teeth were without flaw or blemish, even, small, white, and delicate;
but perhaps they were shown too often. Her nose was small, but struck
many as the prettiest feature of her face, so exquisite was the
moulding of it, and so eloquent and so graceful the slight inflations
of the transparent nostrils. Her eyes, in which she herself thought
that the lustre of her beauty lay, were blue and clear, bright as
cerulean waters. They were long large eyes,--but very dangerous. To
those who knew how to read a face, there was danger plainly written
in them. Poor Sir Florian had not known. But, in truth, the charm
of her face did not lie in her eyes. This was felt by many even who
could not read the book fluently. They were too expressive, too loud
in their demands for attention, and they lacked tenderness. How few
there are among women, few perhaps also among men, who know that the
sweetest, softest, tenderest, truest eyes which a woman can carry in
her head are green in colour! Lizzie's eyes were not tender,--neither
were they true. But they were surmounted by the most wonderfully
pencilled eyebrows that ever nature unassisted planted on a woman's
face.

We have said that she was clever. We must add that she had in truth
studied much. She spoke French, understood Italian, and read German.
She played well on the harp, and moderately well on the piano. She
sang, at least in good taste and in tune. Of things to be learned
by reading she knew much, having really taken diligent trouble with
herself. She had learned much poetry by heart, and could apply it.
She forgot nothing, listened to everything, understood quickly, and
was desirous to show not only as a beauty but as a wit. There were
men at this time who declared that she was simply the cleverest and
the handsomest woman in England. As an independent young woman she
was perhaps one of the richest.

CHAPTER III

Lucy Morris

Although the first two chapters of this new history have been
devoted to the fortunes and personal attributes of Lady Eustace,
the historian begs his readers not to believe that that opulent and
aristocratic Becky Sharp is to assume the dignity of heroine in the
forthcoming pages. That there shall be any heroine the historian will
not take up