When they entered the Park, they were the observed
of all. And, indeed, Leonora Lefevre was a vision to excite the worship
of those least inclined to idolatry of Nature. She was of the noblest
type of English beauty, and she seemed as calmly unconscious of its
excellence and rarity as one of the grand Greek women of the Parthenon.
She had, however, a sensuous fulness and bloom, a queenly carriage of
head and neck, a clearness of feature, and a liquid kindness of eye that
suggested a deep potentiality of passion.
They drove round the Row, and round again, and they talked and laughed
their fill of wisdom and frivolity and folly. To be foolish wisely and
gracefully is a rare attainment. When they had almost completed their
third round, Julius (who had finished a marvellous story of a fairy
princess and a cat) said, "I can see you are fond of beasts, Miss
Lefevre. I should like to take you to the Zoological Gardens and show
you my favourites there. May we go now, Lady Lefevre?"
"By all means," said Lady Lefevre, "let us go. What do you say, John?"
"Oh, wherever you like, mother," answered her son.
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