Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/103

Rh are to be met with in every walk of life, and the possession of which was equivalent with her to letters patent, taking the place, to a large extent, of a genealogical tree.

Malvina de Kehlmark, née De Taxandrie, whose former striking beauty the "Almanac of the Muses" in 1830 proclaimed as Ossianic, possessed lively eyes of azure grey, whose iridescence could be compared only to superfine pearls, hair that hung English-wise in ringlets, an elegantly arched nose, and lips teeming with wit. She was tall and lithe, with the carriage of a queen, or in painters' parlance a splendid outline, rendered more impressive by trailing velvet or black satin robes, with wide lace sleeves, caps à la Marie Stuart: a rich but reserved costume, in which the carbuncles of her rings and especially her brooch, a sphinx-head cut in onyx and surmounted with a couronne of diamonds and rubies, shone like constellations.

In this majestic woman was nothing of pedantry or affected gravity; she was neither prude nor vulgar; but good, without being priggish, and even with a touch of brusqueness and banter; affectionate, faithful, and of infinite sensibility; by no means a Pharisee,