Shirley by Charlotte Brontë Page A

denied the gift of beauty. It was not absolutely necessary to know her in order
    to like her; she was fair enough to please, even at the first view. Her shape suited her age: it was girlish, light, and pliant; every curve was neat, every limb proportionate; her face was expressive and
    gentle; her eyes were handsome, and gifted at times with a winning beam that stole into the heart, with
    a language that spoke softly to the affections. Her mouth was very pretty; she had a delicate skin, and
    a fine flow of brown hair, which she knew how to arrange with taste; curls became her, and she possessed them in picturesque profusion. Her style of dress announced taste in the wearer—very unobtrusive in fashion, far from costly in material, but suitable in colour to the fair complexion with
    which it contrasted, and in make to the slight form which it draped. Her present winter garb was of
    merino—the same soft shade of brown as her hair; the little collar round her neck lay over a pink ribbon, and was fastened with a pink knot. She wore no other decoration.
    So much for Caroline Helstone's appearance. As to her character or intellect, if she had any, they
    must speak for themselves in due time.
    Her connections are soon explained. She was the child of parents separated soon after her birth, in
    consequence of disagreement of disposition. Her mother was the half-sister of Mr. Moore's father; thus, though there was no mixture of blood, she was, in a distant sense, the cousin of Robert, Louis,
    and Hortense. Her father was the brother of Mr. Helstone—a man of the character friends desire not
    to recall, after death has once settled all earthly accounts. He had rendered his wife unhappy. The reports which were known to be true concerning him had given an air of probability to those which
    were falsely circulated respecting his better-principled brother. Caroline had never known her mother, as she was taken from her in infancy, and had not since seen her; her father died comparatively young, and her uncle, the rector, had for some years been her sole guardian. He was
    not, as we are aware, much adapted, either by nature or habits, to have the charge of a young girl. He
    had taken little trouble about her education; probably he would have taken none if she, finding herself
    neglected, had not grown anxious on her own account, and asked, every now and then, for a little attention, and for the means of acquiring such amount of knowledge as could not be dispensed with.
    Still, she had a depressing feeling that she was inferior, that her attainments were fewer than were usually possessed by girls of her age and station; and very glad was she to avail herself of the kind
    offer made by her cousin Hortense, soon after the arrival of the latter at Hollow's Mill, to teach her
    French and fine needle-work. Mdlle. Moore, for her part, delighted in the task, because it gave her importance; she liked to lord it a little over a docile yet quick pupil. She took Caroline precisely at
    her own estimate, as an irregularly-taught, even ignorant girl; and when she found that she made rapid and eager progress, it was to no talent, no application, in the scholar she ascribed the improvement, but entirely to her own superior method of teaching. When she found that Caroline, unskilled in routine, had a knowledge of her own, desultory but varied, the discovery caused her no
    surprise, for she still imagined that from her conversation had the girl unawares gleaned these treasures. She thought it even when forced to feel that her pupil knew much on subjects whereof she
    knew little. The idea was not logical, but Hortense had perfect faith in it.
    Mademoiselle, who prided herself on possessing "un esprit positif," and on entertaining a decided preference for dry studies, kept her young cousin to the same as closely as she could. She worked her
    unrelentingly at the grammar of the French language, assigning her, as the most improving exercise
    she could devise,