I GENEVRA CHAPTER I T would have been as difficult for an observer to place Genevra Joslin socially, as to tell her age and condition. Her walk, her mature figure, and the gravity of her expression suggested the married woman, until one saw the virginal freshness of her face and comprehended that her seriousness was from within and not the result of a disappointing experience of life. Obviously she dressed with care, choosing her clothes with a keen and just appreciation of her physical characteristics. This afternoon she wore a simple but well-fitting jacket and skirt of a dull green which called out the last value of her dark chestnut hair. Direct contrast of colour was evaded by a fur necklet in an elusive shade of brown repeated in the trimming of her dark green velvet toque. At her breast she wore a bunch of violets-of all flowers coloured like their odour-suggesting even at a distance the scented warmth of her A presence. Thus the details of her dress were so considered that they expressed a personality without giving any clue to the social position of the wearer. Genevra's face was redeemed from roundness by the fine modelling of her forehead and lower jaw, every curve strengthened by some softly apparent angle of bone. Her eyes were brown, large, and steadfast, with subtle drawing in their lids; her eyebrows well defined, neither straight nor arched, but with a delicate lift at their outer extremities. Her mouth was rather large, her lips red and full, yet so finely shaped and so perfectly responsive to mental control that they did not convey the impression of sensuality. Above the average height of women, she was largely made rather than plump, and moved with the quiet freedom of health as indicated by her clear eyes, white teeth, and live, warm skin. Her whole person suggested ripeness, readiness as of wine slowly matured in another year or so she would be past her prime. After the first satisfaction to the eye a complete balance of body and mind is often displeasing, and a hasty observer would perhaps have set down Genevra as probably a very selfish woman, if not absolutely heartless. |