BEAUTIFUL HEROINES FROM RECENT FICTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5092, 27 October 1894, Page 3

BEAUTIFUL HEROINES FROM RECENT FICTION.

COUNTESS EADNA. Was she the most beautiful woman he had ever seen P Certainly she was not at all like the rest of the world, Her wavy brown hair was drawn up and back from her low, broad forehead ; her eyes were of that dark-blue colour which is rarely Been out of Ireland ; her complexion was almost unnaturally perfect (though ,the credit of having produced it belonged to nature alone); her little straight noße, her short upper lip, and her rounded chin proclaimed the nobility of her birth, aa did also the poise of her head and the grace of her movements. She had diamonds of great size round her neck and in her hair, otherwise her oostumewasaimple enough. She reminded him of miniatures representing beautieß of 4he last century. —From "The Countess Eadnd" by W.E. Norris. ESTHER WATEBS. She wore a faded yellow dress and a blaos jacket too warm for the day. A girl oi twenty, short, strongly built, with short strong arms. Her neck was plump, and hei hair of so ordinary a brown that it passed unnoticed. The nose was too thiok, but the nostrils were well formed. The eyes wen grey, luminous, and vailed with dark lashes But it was only when she laughed that hei face lost its habitual expression, which wai somewhat sullen; then it flowed witl humour. She laughed now showing a whitf line of almond-shaped teeth.— From" Esthet Waters" by George Moore. ADBLICIA TEMS Adelicia had an oval face, with a little round unassertive chin, a thin, delicate aquiline nose, a email mouth with ful lips, the indenture in the upper one s( deep as to make it truly like a bow, anc widely-opened gray eyes that resemblec nothing so -much as moss agates. The; were veiled by long reddish lashes, am the hair that hung curling down aboui the nape of her neck was of a dull coppei hue. Her complexion was exceedingly white, and she had that thin-skinned loot which is incompatible with freckles ai nnuals ; in those milk white spaces about the eyes were tokens of the sunn] weather which even the dark days o winter could not obliterate. Her figun was slender, and she did not look strong.— From "His Vanished, Star," ly Charle Egbert Craddock. MABIAN JOHNSTONS. I might fairly have been described by i forward-looking eye as what you woulc call a tolerably fair match. I was a tall young, well-made girl, broad but in pro portion, and they used to tell me that ] carried my figuie with the grace oi a pro feßsional dancer. I was exictly oppositi to my mother in colour. My hair wai fclap&ftgiihe, *fr& At* raven j roy-eye;

very black and filled with a strong light wbioh brightened to a look of fever in times of excitement ; my complexion was pale bat clear; my teeth large, white, and regular, and I showed them much in talking and laughing. I will not deny that my charmß— and bandeoino I was — inclined to coarseness, I mean they leaned - toward the manly rather than the i womanly side.— From " The Romance of a i Transport Ship" by Clark Russell. t VIOLET TRESILLIAN. ! She was a universal favourite, and yet no one knew exactly why they liked her, 1 She was one of those girla who really ) haven't a feature, if you try to dissect 1 their appearance ; but, taken as a whole, [ she was decidedly attractive, and even ■ pretty. Her face waa round and smooth 1 and childlike, her Blightly turned-up nose • and mischievous eyes gave a suggestion -of > deviltry, and when her oherry-red lipa ■ parted," as they constantly did in sunny ; smiles, they revealed a. dazzling set of 1 pearly teeth. Great waveß of golden hair > were hemmed in under a sailor hat, • trimmed with dark-blue ribbon, chosen out 1 of, compliment to Harrow. She wore a 1 well-fitting tailor-made dress of thin blue cloth, which gave a hint of horainess and 1 served to show off her compact figure.— From "The Green Bay Tree," by W. H. JFilkins and Herbert Vivian. BEBNAEDINE HOLM*. The girl who had passed the Yorkshire relish eat. silent and lietlees, her food untouched and her wine untested. She ! was tall and thin, her face haggard. She 1 was a new-comer and had, indeed, arrived at Petershof only two hours before the table d'hfite bell rang. But there did not 1 seem to be any nervous shrinking in her 1 manner, nor any shyness at having to face the two hundred and fifty gueatsof the 1 Knrhaus. She seemed rather to be unaware of their presence ; or, if aware of, indifferent to, the scrutiny. — From " Ships that Pass in the Night," by Beatrice Harraden. CHKAP-JACK ZITA. From out the dark interior stepped the girl, and the sunshine flashed over her, lighting her auburn hair, rich as burnished copper. She wore a green, scarlet, and yellow-flowered kerchief tied across her bosom, and knotted behind her back. Bound round her waist was a white apron.— Frotn "Cheap- Jack Zita," by S. BaringQould. JESSAMINE HALIiIDAY. From her mirror looked baok to her a small oval face, with a dash of colour in the cheeks, exquisite lips, red like cherries, a Bhort dimpled chin, and underneath the wing-like eyebrows a pair of large dark eyes with Btorm in them. The, colour and the storm were new. She took a knot of pale primrose and then of cream ribbon and tried them againßt her cheek, but neither satisfied her. A bit of red Sweet William with other flowers stood in a vase on her mantelpiece ; she tried that. The rich deep velvety blue suited, she saw in a moment, the flamelike signals in her cheeks, the new ripeness in her lips, the wild strange light in her eyes. A laugh of triumph parted her lipa, making her pearly toeth glitter, and dimpling with tender, mischievous touches the pretty curves of her chin and cheeks. She threw down the glass and lifted her lovely arms, clasping her hands behind her head. "I am beautiful! beautiful! beautiful!" cried she, in a btrange fervour of conviction.— From " A Superfluous Woman." A HEROINS IN "KEYNOTES." Her face is more characteristic than beautiful.' Nine men would pass it, the tenth sell his immortal soul for it. The chin is strong, the curve of the jaw determined; there is a little fall place under the chin's sharp point. The eyes tell you little j they are keen and inquiring, and probe others' thoughts rather than reveal their own. The whole face ia one of peculiar strength and self-reliance. The mouth is its contradiction ; the passionate curve of the upper lip with its mobile corners, and the tender little under-lip are encouraging promises against its strength. — From "Kevnoies," by Cfeorae Eaerton.