orance, understanding everything that was said, even allusions which
puzzled Lucy; always intelligent and observant, though often with a
shade of that benevolent contempt which the young with difficulty
prevent themselves from feeling towards their elders. The littleness of
their jokes and their philosophies was evidently quite apparent to this
observer, who sat secure in the superiority of sixteen taking in
everything; for she took in everything, even when she was not doing the
elder people the honour of attending to what they were saying, with a
faculty which belongs to that age. Opinions were divided as to Bice's
beauty. The simpler members of the party, Lucy and Jock, admired her
least; but such a competent critic as Lady Randolph, who understood what
was effective, had a great opinion and even respect for her, as of one
whose capabilities were very great indeed, and who might "go far," as
she had herself said. As there was so much difference of opinion it is
only right that the reader should be able to judge, as much as is
possible, from a description. She was very slight and rather tall, with
a great deal of the Contessa's grace, moving lightly as if she scarcely
touched the ground, but like a bird rather than a cat. There was nothing
in her of the feline grace of which we hear so much. Her movements were
all direct and rapid; her feet seemed to skim, not to tread, the ground
with an airy poise, which even when she stood still implied movement,
always light, untiring, full of energy and impulse. Her eyes were
gray--if it is possible to call by the name of the dullest of tints
those two globes of light, now dark, now golden, now liquid with dew,
and now with flame. Her hair was dusky, of no particular colour, with a
crispness about the temples; but her complexion--ay, there was the rub.
Bice had no complexion at all. By times in the evening, in artificial
light, or when she was excited, there came a little flush to her cheeks,
which miraculously chased away the shadows from her paleness, and made
her radiant; but in daylight there could be no doubt that she was
sallow, sometimes almost olive, though with a soft velvety texture which
is more often seen on the dark-complexioned through all its gradations
than on any but the most delicate of white skins. A black baby has a
bloom upon its little dusky cheek like a purple peach, and this was the
quality which gave to Bice's sallowness a certain charm. Her hands and
arms w