Barbara burst into penitential tears, and both
husband and wife were contrite enough, as well they might be,
considering that they had not a guinea to call their own.
When the four had calmed themselves, and not a word of chiding had
been uttered to the pair, they discussed the position soberly, young
Willowes sitting in the background with great modesty till invited
forward by Lady Grebe in no frigid tone.
'How handsome he is!' she said to herself. 'I don't wonder at
Barbara's craze for him.'
He was, indeed, one of the handsomest men who ever set his lips on a
maid's. A blue coat, murrey waistcoat, and breeches of drab set off
a figure that could scarcely be surpassed. He had large dark eyes,
anxious now, as they glanced from Barbara to her parents and
tenderly back again to her; observing whom, even now in her
trepidation, one could see why the sang froid of Lord Uplandtowers
had been raised to more than lukewarmness. Her fair young face
(according to the tale handed down by old women) looked out from
under a gray conical hat, trimmed with white ostrich-feathers, and
her little toes peeped from a buff petticoat worn under a puce gown.
Her features were not regular: they were almost infantine, as you
may see from miniatures in possession of the family, her mouth
showing much sensitiveness, and one could be sure that her faults
would not lie on the side of bad temper unless for urgent reasons.
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