Page:Gissing - The Emancipated, vol. I, 1890.djvu/80

24 twenty-two years old, was rather colourless, somewhat too slim, altogether a trifle limp; but you would have judged her pretty, and have approved her taste In dress. Madeline, a couple of years younger, enjoyed a more healthy physique and a less common comeliness, but in attire she seemed to aim at Herrick's "fine distraction" and "sweet disorder," without being able to compass the corresponding "wild civility." Her colours were ill-matched, her ornaments awkwardly worn; even her hair Boughl more freedom than was consistent with grace. The youngest girl, Zillah, who was about nineteen, had been less kindly dealt with by nature; like Barbara, she was of very light complexion, and this accentuated her plainness. Sh^ aimed at no compensation in costume, unless one took it for such that her sober garments exhibited a perfect neatness and a complete inoffensiveness. Zillah's was a good face, in spite of its unattractive features; she had a peculiarly earnest look, a reflective manner) and much conscientiousness of speech.