Page:Eliot - Daniel Deronda, vol. I, 1876.djvu/82

 already suggested some "not less elegant than ingenious" emendations of Greek texts—said nearly at the same time, "By George, who is that girl with the awfully well-set head and jolly figure?"

But to a mind of general benevolence, wishing everybody to look well, it was rather exasperating to see how Gwendolen eclipsed others: how even the handsome Miss Lawe, explained to be the daughter of Lady Lawe, looked suddenly broad, heavy, and inanimate; and how Miss Arrowpoint, unfortunately also dressed in white, immediately resembled a carte-de-visite in which one would fancy the skirt alone to have been charged for. Since Miss Arrowpoint was generally liked for the amiable unpretending way in which she wore her fortunes, and made a softening screen for the oddities of her mother, there seemed to be some unfitness in Gwendolen's looking so much more like a person of social importance.

"She is not really so handsome, if you come to examine her features," said Mrs Arrowpoint, later in the evening, confidentially to Mrs Vulcany. "It is a certain style she has, which produces a great effect at first, but afterwards she is less agreeable."

In fact, Gwendolen, not intending it, but intending the contrary, had offended her hostess,