in her cheeks, a small
nose, a pair of little black eyes. The lower part of her face was large
in proportion to the upper; her forehead was small and rather
corrugated; she had a fretful though not an ill-natured expression of
countenance; there was something in her whole appearance one felt
inclined to be half provoked with and half amused at. The strangest
point was her dress--a stuff petticoat and a striped cotton camisole.
The petticoat was short, displaying well a pair of feet and ankles which
left much to be desired in the article of symmetry.

You will think I have depicted a remarkable slattern, reader. Not at
all. Hortense Moore (she was Mr. Moore's sister) was a very orderly,
economical person. The petticoat, camisole, and curl-papers were her
morning costume, in which, of forenoons, she had always been accustomed
to "go her household ways" in her own country. She did not choose to
adopt English fashions because she was obliged to live in England; she
adhered to her old Belgian modes, quite satisfied that there was a merit
in so doing.

Mademoiselle had an excellent opinion of herself--an opinion not wholly
undeserved, for she possessed some good and sterling qualities; but she
rather over-estimated the kind and degree of these qualities, and quite
left out of the account sundry little defects which accompanied them.
You could never have persuaded her that she was a prejudiced and
narrow-minded person, that she was too susceptible on the subject of her
own dignity and importance, and too apt to take offence about trifles;
yet all this was true. However, where her claims to distinction were not
opposed, and where her prejudices were not offended, she could be kind
and friendly enough. To her two brothers (for there was another Gerard
Moore besides Robert) she was very much attached. As the sole remaining
representatives of their decayed family, the persons of both were almost
sacred in her eyes. Of Louis, however, she knew less than of Robert. He
had been sent to England when a mere boy, and had received his education
at an English school. His education not being such as to adapt him for
trade, perhaps, too, his natural bent not inclining him to mercantile
pursuits, he had, when the blight of hereditary prospects rendered it
necessary for him to push his own fortune, adopted the very arduous and
very modest career of a teacher. He had been usher in a school, and was
said now to be tutor in a private family. Ho