ouch of
the tan that darkened Eagle March's fairer complexion; but the white was
of a different quality, somehow, from Diana's. Hers is pearl white; his
had the thick, untranslucent look which pale Jewish faces have. I didn't
know then that Sidney Vandyke was of Hebrew blood, but afterward I heard
that his mother had Spanish Jews for ancestors on one side, and that
with her came most of the family money. He was in full dress uniform,
which became him splendidly; and I had a glimpse of a rather large face,
drawn with square, straight lines that gave it a relentless look; square
white forehead; straight black brows; straight, short nose; large,
squarely opened dark eyes, brilliant and self-confident; straight black
moustache; thick, square red lips; square chin, and a full neck set on
square shoulders. After that first glimpse I saw only the profile, for
in meeting Kitty Main and being introduced to Di and Father, Major
Vandyke had to turn half away from me. Even a profile, however, tells
something; and when Major Vandyke began to talk to Di, bending down a
little, I could see that he admired her very much, or else wanted to
convey this impression to her mind.
Next came Eagle March, very slim and boyish in shape and size compared
to Major Vandyke, though he can't be more than six years younger; and
hardly had he time to greet his hostess and look wistfully at Di, when
the Dalziels arrived, a party of four. I thought that the father and
mother (a dear little, merry, round-faced couple, curiously like each
other and like Billiken) looked too young and irresponsible to be
parents of anything grown up; but perhaps they had married when they
were almost children, for Lieutenant Dalziel, who was inches taller than
his father, had the happy air of being twenty two or three, and Mrs.
Main had said that the girl was "just out." Young Tony--nut-brown eyes,
skin, and hair, clean shaven, smiling, with teeth white and even as
kernels of American corn--was a glorified edition of his Billiken
father. Miss Dalziel--Milly--was not a bit like any of the others, who
had all been cut from the same pattern and painted with the same paint.
She was even slimmer and smaller than I am; very fair, with a few
freckles, and lots of blue veins at her temples. She had an obstinate
pink button of a mouth; dimples, which she made come and go every minute
by working the muscles of her cheeks; bright, fluffy red hair done high
on her head, floating eyes
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