Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/269

 hairpins when she wanted any. Although they didn't suit the colour of her hair, they saved expense and bother. All lady's maids, it seems, do the same thing, without thinking it dishonest. To how much greater extent would a French girl be likely to take advantage of any such little opportunities to save her purse and her legs, than a sturdy Englishwoman? Besides, when I first went down to Riding St. Mary, I once had the curiosity to get Liane described to me by Mrs. Barnard, my landlady. The girl had big black eyes she said, that looked all the blacker in contrast with the chestnut-coloured hair which she dressed very becomingly, and which many people thought bleached from a much darker shade. This sort of pin wouldn't be out of the way in chestnut hair, no matter how fastidious the young woman might be.

"Secondly, the cause of the open quarrel between Lady Hereward and Barr, was Liane. Lady Hereward accused him of flirting with the French girl, causing her to leave the place where she was valued and generously treated. The question in my mind up to now was, whether or no Lady Hereward was right; for apparently soon after Barr fell in love with Miss Verney, who is much handsomer than Liane, besides being a lady. However, a man can love two women at once, as has been proved times without number; and I begin to think that her ladyship knew what she was talking about. Barr certainly was in