en to
her. However, she still bore with unclouded mood the chidings her
inattention brought upon her. Sitting in the sunshine near the window,
she seemed to receive with its warmth a kind influence, which made her
both happy and good. Thus disposed, she looked her best, and her best
was a pleasing vision.

To her had not been denied the gift of beauty. It was not absolutely
necessary to know her in order to like her; she was fair enough to
please, even at the first view. Her shape suited her age: it was
girlish, light, and pliant; every curve was neat, every limb
proportionate; her face was expressive and gentle; her eyes were
handsome, and gifted at times with a winning beam that stole into the
heart, with a language that spoke softly to the affections. Her mouth
was very pretty; she had a delicate skin, and a fine flow of brown hair,
which she knew how to arrange with taste; curls became her, and she
possessed them in picturesque profusion. Her style of dress announced
taste in the wearer--very unobtrusive in fashion, far from costly in
material, but suitable in colour to the fair complexion with which it
contrasted, and in make to the slight form which it draped. Her present
winter garb was of merino--the same soft shade of brown as her hair; the
little collar round her neck lay over a pink ribbon, and was fastened
with a pink knot. She wore no other decoration.

So much for Caroline Helstone's appearance. As to her character or
intellect, if she had any, they must speak for themselves in due time.

Her connections are soon explained. She was the child of parents
separated soon after her birth, in consequence of disagreement of
disposition. Her mother was the half-sister of Mr. Moore's father; thus,
though there was no mixture of blood, she was, in a distant sense, the
cousin of Robert, Louis, and Hortense. Her father was the brother of Mr.
Helstone--a man of the character friends desire not to recall, after
death has once settled all earthly accounts. He had rendered his wife
unhappy. The reports which were known to be true concerning him had
given an air of probability to those which were falsely circulated
respecting his better-principled brother. Caroline had never known her
mother, as she was taken from her in infancy, and had not since seen
her; her father died comparatively young, and her uncle, the rector, had
for some years been her sole guardian. He was not, as we are aware, much
adapted, either by natur