It was one of the days when she was so handsome that to be handsome was enough, and all the rest--her grace, her quickness, her social felicities--seemed the overflow of a bounteous nature.

But what especially struck him was the way in which she detached herself, by a hundred undefinable shades, from the persons who most abounded in her own style.

It was in just such company, the fine flower and complete expression of the state she aspired to, that the differences came out with special poignancy, her grace cheapening the other women's smartness as her finely-discriminated silences made their chatter dull.

The strain of the last hours had restored to her face the deeper eloquence which Selden had lately missed in it, and the bravery of her words to him still fluttered in her voice and eyes.

Yes, she was matchless--it was the one word for her; and he could give his admiration the freer play because so little personal feeling remained in it.