Upon the whole he thought, as did his step-daughter, that it had come off very well, although it was not quite perfection.

Perfection would have been to find in Julia a plain and unaffected woman, who would have simply thrown herself in her step-father's arms and laughed with him at her spoilt child's escapade; but he had never expected Julia's manners to be quite as frank and open as that.

She had done in the present circumstances all that could be expected of a nature like hers; she had shown herself graciously friendly; she had, it is true, imparted to this first interview a certain solemn and dramatic turn.

She was romantic, and as Lucan was tolerably so himself, this whim of hers had not proved unpleasant to him.
He had been, moreover, agreeably surprised at the beauty of Madame de Moras, which was indeed striking.

The severe regularity of her features, the deep luster of her blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, the exquisite harmony of her form were not her only, nor indeed her principal attractions; she owed her rare and personal charm to a sort of strange grace mingled with flexibility and strength, that lent enchantment to her every motion.