"
"I do not know that I can tell you," he replied. "I have not thought
much of the matter."
"But if any one asked you to describe your ideal of what a woman should
be, you could do it," she pursued.
"Perhaps so, but at best it would be but an imperfect sketch. She must
be young, fair, gentle, pure, tender of heart, noble in soul, with a
kind of shy, sweet grace; frank, yet not outspoken; free from all
affectation, yet with nothing unwomanly; a mixture of child and woman.
If I love an ideal, it is something like that."
"And she must be fair, like all the ladies Arleigh, with eyes like the
hyacinth, and hair tinged with gold, I suppose, Norman?"
"Yes; I saw a picture once in Borne that realized my notion of true
womanly loveliness. It was a very fair face, with something of the
innocent wonder of a child mixed with the dawning love and passion of
noblest womanhood."
"You admire an _ingenue_. We have both our tastes; mine, if I were a
man, would incline more to the brilliant and handsome."
She would have added more, but at that moment Lady Peters drew aside the
silken hanging.
"My dear children," she said, "I should ill play my part of chaperon if
I did not remind you of the hour.
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