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"How pretty Louisa is looking this morning!" said Lady Anne; "what a dreadful waste, with nobody in town." "What a pity," replied Isabella, "that people cannot have a savings-bank of good looks—hair, eyes, and skin to be put out at interest till wanted!" "You would not trouble it much, child," returned Lady Anne, pettishly; "you know you are the plain one of the family. I do not know what I shall do with you when you come out; you will have no beauty but that of youth." "Then, mamma," exclaimed Isabella, "the sooner you bring me out the better." "I am sure," cried her mother, "I have quite enough on my hands. No, no, you must wait, and long enough too, unless some of your sisters go off." "Well," answered she, "I can wait and improve." "I do not think you will," was Lady Anne's ungracious reply. She was herself a blonde; and it seemed almost a personal affront, that any of her children could be brunettes. Even in Helen, who was a decided beauty, she scarcely tolerated the dark hair;