Sitting close together and moved by the same feelings, their physical resemblance was remarkable. As before said, Nature had intended them to be beautiful. Their features were regular, their hair abundant, their eyes dark and well formed, their figures tall and slender, but they lacked those small accessories to beauty without which it appears crude and undeveloped. Their faces were dull and uninteresting for want of that interior light of the soul and intellect without which "the human face divine" is not divine--is indeed only flesh and blood. Their abundant hair was badly cared for, and not becomingly arranged; their figures, in spite of tight lacing, badly managed and ungracefully clothed; their eyes, though dark and long-lashed, carried no illumination and were only expressive of evil or bitter emotions; they knew not either the languors or the sweet lights of love or pity. Isabel and Christina had slipped about sick rooms too much; and they had been too little in the busy world to estimate themselves by comparison with others, and so find out their deficiencies. This morning their likeness to each other was accentuated by the fact that they were dressed exactly alike in dark brown merino, with a narrow band of white linen round their throats. Each had fastened the linen band with a gold brooch of the same pattern, and both wore a small Swiss watch pinned on her plain, tight waist. Isabel reclined in her chair, and as she knew all there was to know at present, a faint smile of satisfaction was on her face. Christina sat upright, with an almost childish expression of expectation. "What do you know, Isabel?" she asked impatiently. "How, or why, are things going to be different in Traquair House?" "Because there is to be a marriage in the family." "A marriage! Is it mother? Old lawyer Galt has been very attentive lately." "No, it is not mother." "Then it is Robert?" Isabel nodded assent. Christina's eyes filled with a dull, angry glow, and there were tears in her voice, as she cried: "If that is so, Isabel, I will leave Traquair House. I will not live with Jane Dalkeith. She is worse than mother. She would count every mouthful we ate, and make remarks as nasty as herself." "Exactly. That would be Jane's way; but I am led to believe Robert will never marry Jane Dalkeith." "Who then is he going to marry? I never heard of Robert paying attention to any girl." "I have found out the person he is paying attention to." "Who is it, Isabel? Tell me. I will never mention the circumstance." "Her name is Theodora." "What a queer name--Miss Theodora. Do you know, it sounds like a Christian name; it surely can not be a surname." "You are right. I do not know her surname." "How did you find it out--I mean Robert's love affair?" Isabel described the discovery of the velvet-bound Bible while Christina listened with greedy interest. "You know, Christina," she added, "that a young man on his engagement always gives the girl a Bible."