Anna Lombard, page 109 by Victoria Cross
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aow become a married woman. By her I took my seat where I had the whole length of the room before me, and I could watch for Anna's appearance. At a quarter to twelve she entered, and I could distinguish her in a mopient. What was there that made her figure so charming? She was tall, but not of that height which makes a woman formidable instead of caressable. She was only tall when pou actually measured her. At other times, the only impression her figure gave was of extreme grace and suppleness. Her waist was slim and low, her shoulders broad, and hips slight. Perhaps there was something in this proportion that gave the whole its peculiar, insinuating charm.
She wore this evening a gown of heavy, white silk, as usual, with a train of great length and weight; and the whole dress had, or was lent by its wearer, an incomparable distinction. As she came nearer we could see that she was wearing at her bosom a cluster of her favorite white roses, and a small spray was intertwined with the beautiful double plait of fair hair on her neck. I watched her with my usual delight, and then as she came closer I sprung to my feet with an almost uttered exclamation of dismay. Her face was terrible to look at. For a minute I could not believe that this was the rounded, smiling, rose-like face I knew. It was colorless and in some indescribable way seemed blighted. The eyes had a strained look of intense suffering and exhaustion, and the pale lips had a terrible line round them I had never seen,
Wo met and pressed each other's hands in a conventional way, and then Anna said, hurriedly:
"Let us go outside, somewhere, where we can speak for a few moments, and then I am going home. I can not stay here."
We went in silence toward the veranda, which led to the compound beyond and a wild jungle of ilowers and palms, where a hundred couples might walk unseen by one another, and yet where the music of the ball-room would reach them all. As we passed out I heard one woman say to another by whom she was sitting: