"If you speak to her, if you ever look at her, all is over between
us," said the duchess to the poet in a low voice, not at all satisfied
with the very doubtful termination which Ernest's arrival had put to
the scene; "and remember, if I am not present, I leave behind me eyes
that will watch you."

So saying, the duchess, a woman of medium height, but a little too
stout, like all women over fifty who retain their beauty, rose and
walked toward the group which surrounded Diane de Maufrigneuse,
stepping daintily on little feet that were as slender and nervous as a
deer's. Beneath her plumpness could be seen the exquisite delicacy of
such women, which comes from the vigor of their nervous systems
controlling and vitalizing the development of flesh. There is no other
way to explain the lightness of her step, and the incomparable
nobility of her bearing. None but the women whose quarterings begin
with Noah know, as Eleonore did, how to be majestic in spite of a
buxom tendency. A philosopher might have pitied Philoxene, while
admiring the graceful lines of the bust and the minute care bestowed
upon a morning dress, which was worn with the elegance of a queen and
the easy grace of a young girl. Her abundant hair, still undyed, was
simply wound about her head in plaits; she bared her snowy throat and
shoulders, exquisitely modelled, and her celebrated hand and arm, with
pardonable pride. Modeste, together with all other antagonists of the
duchess, recognized in her a woman of whom they were forced to say,
"She eclipses us." In fact, Eleonore was one of the "grandes dames"
now so rare. To endeavor to explain what august quality there was in
the carriage of the head, what refinement and delicacy in the curve of
the throat, what harmony in her movements, and nobility in her
bearing, what grandeur in the perfect accord of details with the whole
being, and in the arts, now a second nature, which render a woman