At half-past eight every morning Mrs.Mervale was dressed for the day,--that is, till she re-dressed for dinner,--her stays well laced, her cap prim, her gowns, winter and summer, of a thick, handsome silk.

Ladies at that time wore very short waists; so did Mrs.Mervale.
Her morning ornaments were a thick, gold chain, to which was suspended a gold watch,--none of those fragile dwarfs of mechanism that look so pretty and go so ill, but a handsome repeater which chronicled Father Time to a moment; also a mosaic brooch; also a miniature of her uncle, the admiral, set in a bracelet.

For the evening she had two handsome sets,--necklace, earrings, and bracelets complete,--one of amethysts, the other topazes.

With these, her costume for the most part was a gold-coloured satin and a turban, in which last her picture had been taken.

Mrs.Mervale had an aquiline nose, good teeth, fair hair, and light eyelashes, rather a high complexion, what is generally called a fine bust; full cheeks; large useful feet made for walking; large, white hands with filbert nails, on which not a speck of dust had, even in childhood, ever been known to a light.