a smile which seemed rather of indulgence than warm kindness.

"How little we thought where our next meeting would be!" Cecily was
saying, when the eyes of the others turned upon her at her aunt's
remark.

Noble beauty can scarcely be dissociated from harmony of utterance;
voice and visage are the correspondent means whereby spirit
addresses itself to the ear and eye. One who had heard Cecily Doran
speaking where he could not see her, must have turned in that
direction, have listened eagerly for the sounds to repeat
themselves, and then have moved forward to discover the speaker. The
divinest singer may leave one unaffected by the tone of her speech.
Cecily could not sing, but her voice declared her of those who think
in song, whose minds are modulated to the poetry, not to the prose,
of life.

Her enunciation had the peculiar finish which is acquired in
intercourse with the best cosmopolitan society, the best in a worthy
sense. Four years ago, when she left Lancashire, she had a touch of
provincial accent,--Miriam, though she spoke well, was not wholly
free from it,--but now it was impossible to discover by listening
to her from what part of England she came. Mrs. Lessingham, whose
admirable tact and adaptability rendered her unimpeachable in such
details, had devoted herself with artistic zeal to her niece's
training for the world; the pupil's natural aptitude ensured
perfection in the result. Cecily's manner accorded with her
utterance; it had every charm derivable from youth, yet nothing of
immaturity. She was as completely at her ease as Mrs. Lessingham,
and as much more graceful in her self-control as the advantages of