“Mr. DeVare, let’s take those seats by the window; I have a fuss to make up with you, too.”
DeVare, of course, complied, and I was left alone on the sofa with Miss Carrover. We still had the box of pictures in our hands, but as soon as DeVare left she closed the box and said:
“Let’s put these tiresome old pictures up, and talk some. Tell me all about the way the Sophs treated you when you first came.”
To be near such superb beauty was almost too much for my poor sentimental heart; and then to have her wish to hear me talk, and even prescribe the subject, as if my words would be full of so much interest! I was stupid for awhile with surprise, and sat for nearly half a minute gazing abstractedly and impolitely in her face. Indeed, ‘twas well worth gazing on.
Her hair was not done up regularly, but caught in great loose folds around her head, so as to best set off her face, and was rolled back from her clear white forehead in a great golden wave—yet its color was not altogether golden; it had a tinge of red that made it glow with a tawny light. Her skin was perfectly smooth and clear, and of wax-like whiteness, tinged with a bright peach pink on her cheeks. But her chief charms were her eyes and mouth. Her eyes were hazel or dark gray, I could never tell which, shaded with very long lashes and deep upper lids, that gave them a dreamy, languid expression, that always impresses us as most beautiful, we know not why. Her mouth was small, and very much arched at the corners; her lips bright red, and her teeth perfectly white; the upper lip protruded slightly, as if she was ever a little surprised, and this, combined with a constant slight arch of the eyebrows, imparted an air of interest in all you said, notwithstanding the languor of her general expression. Her beauty was Dudu’s, and Byron well knew its fascinating power.
As soon as I recovered from my brief contemplation of her face I made an attempt to give her my experience as a Fresh, and what with the pleasure of talking at all to her, and her interest in my subject, and continued ejaculations of pity, I began to wish the fellows had done me much worse than they had, it was so delightful to have her listen to the recital of my woes. When I told her of my fainting under the smoking, she smiled such a lazy little smile, and said, “I did not know gentlemen indulged in such feminine weaknesses.”
“But the air was so noxious, Miss Carrover, no one could have borne it. You would have been compelled to faint.”
“Oh, I faint quite easily,” she said, arching one eyebrow instead of two, “I came near falling from my horse as I went to mount last evening, and became unconscious for a little while.”
“And was no one there to catch you?” I asked, with earnest heroism in my tone.
“Oh, of course, I took care to be provided with that safeguard. Do you think you could catch me if we were riding and I should fall?”