Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/182

 so were her white arms to the elbow; but both neck and arms were shaded and relieved by wide ruffles of the costliest lace. Her soft and still abundant dark hair was drawn off from her brow, and combed over a crape cushion—much as modern taste dictates to its votaries of the present day—and being gathered into a clasp or band at the back of the head, the ends were suffered to flow in loose, waving curls over her neck and shoulders. A string of large pearls, clasped closely around her slender throat, and a brilliant pin at the knot of ribbons at the top of her bodice (or stomacher, as it was termed), connected by a glittering chain to the massive gold watch and equipage at her side, were the common ornaments which marked her rank in life, at a period when female domestics were not accustomed to outshine their mistresses in extravagance of dress and demeanor.

We have said that she was no longer in extreme youth, but the fair face was still smooth and delicately tinted; and time, which had added thoughtfulness to the open brow, and penetration to the deep, darkly lustrous