 picturesque profusion. Her style of dress announced taste in the wearer;
very unobtrusive in fashion, far from costly in material, but suitable in colour
to the fair complexion with which it contrasted, and in make to the slight form
which it draped. Her present winter garb was of merino, the same soft shade of
brown as her hair; the little collar round her neck lay over a pink ribbon, and
was fastened with a pink knot; she wore no other decoration.
    So much for Caroline Helstone's appearance; as to her character or
intellect, if she had any, they must speak for themselves in due time.
    Her connexions are soon explained. She was the child of parents separated
soon after her birth, in consequence of disagreement of disposition. Her mother
was the half-sister of Mr. Moore's father; thus - though there was no mixture of
blood - she was, in a distant sense, the cousin of Robert, Louis, and Hortense.
Her father was the brother of Mr. Helstone - a man of the character friends
desire not to recall, after death has once settled all earthly accounts. He had
rendered his wife unhappy: the reports which were known to be true concerning
him, had given an air of probability to those which were falsely circulated
respecting his better-principled brother. Caroline had never known her mother,
as she was taken from her in infancy, and had not since seen her; her father
died comparatively young, and her uncle, the Rector, had for some years been her
sole guardian. He was not, as we are aware, much adapted, either by nature or
habits, to have the charge of a young girl: he had taken little trouble about
her education; probably, he would have taken none if she, finding herself
neglected, had not grown anxious on her own account, and asked, every now and
then, for a little attention, and for the means of acquiring such amount of
knowledge as could not be dispensed with. Still, she had a depressing feeling
that she was inferior, that her attainments were fewer than were usually
possessed by girls of her age and station; and very glad was she to avail
herself of the kind offer made by her cousin Hortense, soon after the arrival of
the latter at Hollow's mill, to teach her French and fine needlework. Mdlle
Moore, for her part, delighted in the task, because it gave her importance; she
liked to lord it a little over a docile yet quick pupil. She took Caroline
precisely at her own estimate,
