me, to dress herself out
most tastefully. The new fashionable dresses set off her figure. An
agreeable person, it is true, will show through all disguises; but we
always fancy it looks fresher and more graceful when its peculiarities
appear under some new drapery. And thus, from the moment of her first
appearance, she became more and more a delight to the eyes of all who
beheld her. As the emerald refreshes the sight with its beautiful hues,
and exerts, it is said, a beneficent influence on that noble sense, so
does human beauty work with far larger potency on the outward and on the
inward sense; whoever looks upon it is charmed against the breath of
evil, and feels in harmony with himself and with the world.

In many ways, therefore, the party had gained by Ottilie's arrival. The
Captain and Edward kept regularly to the hours, even to the minutes, for
their general meeting together. They never kept the others waiting for
them either for dinner or tea, or for their walks; and they were in less
haste, especially in the evenings, to leave the table. This did not
escape Charlotte's observation; she watched them both, to see whether
one more than the other was the occasion of it. But she could not
perceive any difference. They had both become more companionable. In
their conversation they seemed to consider what was best adapted to
interest Ottilie; what was most on a level with her capacities and her
general knowledge. If she left the room when they were reading or
telling stories, they would wait till she returned. They had grown
softer and altogether more united.

In return for this, Ottilie's anxiety to be of use increased every day;
the more she came to understand the house, its inmates, and their
circumstances, the more eagerly she entered into everything, caught
every look and every motion; half a word, a sound, was enough for her.
With her calm attentiveness, and her easy, unexcited activity, she was
always the same. Sitting, rising up, going, coming, fetching, carrying,
returning to her place again, it was all in the most perfect repose; a
constant change, a constant agreeable movement; while, at the same time,
she went about so lightly that her step was almost inaudible.

This cheerful obligingness in Ottilie gave Charlotte the greatest
pleasure. There was one thing, however, which she did not exactly like,
of which she had to speak to her. "It is very polite in you," she said
one day to her, "when people let an