Although, in reality, two or three years younger than he, Asenath
had a gravity of demeanor, a calm self-possession, a deliberate
balance of mind, and a repose of the emotional nature, which he had
never before observed, except in much older women. She had had, as
he could well imagine, no romping girlhood, no season of careless,
light-hearted dalliance with opening life, no violent alternation
even of the usual griefs and joys of youth. The social calm in
which she had expanded had developed her nature as gently and
securely as a sea-flower is unfolded below the reach of tides and
storms.
She would have been very much surprised if any one had called her
handsome: yet her face had a mild, unobtrusive beauty which seemed
to grow and deepen from day to day. Of a longer oval than the
Greek standard, it was yet as harmonious in outline; the nose was
fine and straight, the dark-blue eyes steady and untroubled, and
the lips calmly, but not too firmly closed. Her brown hair, parted
over a high white forehead, was smoothly laid across the temples,
drawn behind the ears, and twisted into a simple knot.
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