"Which do you mean, sir?" asked Harry.
"Miss Taylor and Miss Graham, who are standing together near the piano."
"Yes," replied Hazlehurst, "Miss Taylor is even prettier than I had supposed she would be."
"She will not compare, however, with Miss Jane. To my mind, Miss Graham answers the idea of perfect beauty. In all your travels, did you meet with a face that you thought more beautiful?"
"I believe not," said Harry, laconically, and slowly colouring at the same time.
"Is it Jane you were speaking of, Doctor?" inquired Elinor, turning towards him. "Don't you think she has come back twice as beautiful as she was last year? It is really a pleasure to look at a face like hers."
"I am afraid, it will prove rather a dangerous pleasure, Miss
Elinor, to some of the beaux, this winter."
"No doubt she will be very much admired; but she takes it all very quietly. I don't believe your great beauties as much disposed to vanity as other people."
"Perhaps not;" replied the doctor, drawing near her. "A great deal depends on education. But what do the travellers tell you about the sights they have seen, Miss Elinor?"
"Oh, we have only gone as far as the first chapter of their travels," she replied. "They have not half said their say yet."