Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/240

 Kitty, too, was charming in her beautiful Begum sort, had wealth abundant, and might perhaps have been charmed, none knows. She had one of the prettiest smiles, a visible sense of humour, the slight merry curl of the upper lip (right side of it only), the carriage of her head and eyes on such occasions, the quaint little things she said in that kind, and her low-toned hearty laugh were noticeable. This was perhaps her most spiritual quality; of developed intellect she had not much, though not wanting in discernment: amiable, affectionate, graceful, might be called attractive, not slim enough for the title pretty, not tall enough for beautiful, had something low-voiced, languidly harmonious, loved perfumes, etc., a half-Begum in short, an interesting specimen of the semi-oriental English woman."

A subtle, fascinating picture this, which forms a delicate glittering link between the rugged figure of grim Thomas Carlyle, and the brilliant soldier who lorded it so proudly among the nobles of Hyderabad, and rests so quietly in his time-worn tomb, in the North Park Street Burying Ground.

Close to where Kirkpatrick lies in his soldier-grave, is the square brick-built monument which marks the grave of the civilian Richmond Thackeray, the father of William Makepeace Thackeray. Richmond was the son of an earlier