She
did not _use_ her eyes habitually, but, when she did, the
thrust was sudden and straight. I heard a man once say that a
look from her was like a volley of small-arms. Like Hesper's, her
mouth was large and good, with fine teeth; her chin projected a
little too much; her hands were finer than Hesper's, but bony.
Her name was Septimia; Lady Margaret called her Sepia, and the
contraction seemed to so many suitable that it was ere long
generally adopted. She was in mourning, with a little crape. To
the first glance she seemed as unlike Hesper as she could well
be; but, as she stood gently regarding the two, Mary, gradually,
and to her astonishment, became indubitably aware of a singular
likeness between them. Sepia, being a few years older, and in
less flourishing condition, had her features sharper and finer,
and by nature her complexion was darker by shades innumerable;
but, if the one was the evening, the other was the night: Sepia
was a diminished and overshadowed Hesper. Their manner, too, was
similar, but Sepia's was the haughtier, and she had an occasional
look of defiance, of which there appeared nothing in Hesper. When
first she came to Durnmelling, Lady Malice had once alluded to
the dependence of her position--but only once: there came a flash
into rather than out of Sepia's eyes that made any repetition of
the insult impossible and Lady Malice wish that she had left her
a wanderer on the face of Europe.
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