Geraldine Ellicott presented a great contrast to the young heiress; but the cousins were strongly attached to each other, and had many tastes in common.
Externally they were altogether unlike. Miss Ellicott was very tall, and too slender for her height, but erect and graceful in spite of it. She had no decided complexion. Her features would never have been chosen as models by painter or sculptor, and most people, looking at her face in repose, would have pronounced her decidedly plain. But her broad brow suggested intellect, and she was a most thoughtful student and reader.
Kathleen and she were alike musical, yet with a difference. Each was naturally gifted; but whilst the one was contented with the facility which followed a moderate amount of effort, Geraldine was ever working to turn to the best account every talent she possessed.
"When I play or sing, people listen, smile, and say, 'Thank you so much! What a charming voice you have, Miss Mountford!' or, 'What a lovely touch!' When you lift up that grand contralto voice of yours, there is a silence that one feels, and they pay you the greater compliment of forgetting to thank you. They are absorbed. They give little gasps as the last note dies away, and there is a look of awe on some faces, as if there might be an uncanny element in a voice which so entrances the hearers. How I envy your power!" Kathleen would often say.
Geraldine would laugh at her cousin's words, but there were many who felt what Kathleen expressed, and went further still, declaring that when Miss Ellicott sang, she became positively beautiful, there was so much soul shining in her eyes, which were as fine as Miss Mountford's, whilst in herself she was the dearest, kindest creature possible.
Pretty Mrs. Stapleton once ventured to remark that Geraldine Ellicott was a girl whom every one liked, but no one would ever fall in love with. The speaker was, however, one whose judgment was not absolutely infallible.
It sometimes happens that those whose good looks are their sole attraction, are unable to understand the attractiveness which exists and lasts, without them.
When Kathleen returned to the Hall, after her drive to the meet, she rushed to her cousin's room, and flung herself into an easy-chair without waiting to take off her outdoor garments.
Miss Ellicott was looking out of the window, but she turned to greet Kathleen with a bright smile on her face, as if it were reflecting happy thoughts.
"Well, Kitty, have you enjoyed your drive? I was just thinking how lovely the colouring would be on the hedgerows, with the sun shining. I have been revelling in it without leaving home."