She flashed a new and subtly stimulating light upon him.
The old gown, rich in subdued splendor of lace and brocade, was
ornamented at the throat with a heavy band of pearls, just above
which could be seen a trace of the gold chain that supported her
portrait locket. There, too, with a not unbecoming gleam of
barbaric colors, shone the string of porcupine beads to which the
Indian charmstone hidden in her bosom was attached. It all
harmonized with the time, the place, the atmosphere. Anywhere else
it would have been preposterous as a decorative presentment, but
here, in this little nook where the coureurs de bois, the half-
breeds, the traders and the missionaries had founded a centre of
assembly, it was the best possible expression in the life so
formed at hap-hazard, and so controlled by the coarsest and
narrowest influences. To Fitzhugh Beverley, of Beverley Hall, the
picture conveyed immediately a sweet and pervading influence.
Alice looked superbly tall, stately and self-possessed in her
transforming costume, a woman of full stature, her countenance
gravely demure yet reserving near the surface the playful dimples
and mischievous smiles so characteristic of her more usual manner.
A sudden mood of the varium et mutabile semper femina had led her
to wear the dress, and the mood still illuminated her.
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