Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 228: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SCENES AT MRS. BRACE’S ESTABLISHMENT 211 melting azure orbs; the chestnut locks and the eyes of hazel; the glowing auburn tresses and the eyes of dark blue; the Roman countenance, denoting strong passions; the Grecian profile, indicating a poetic sensuousness; the lively French features, far more interesting than positively beautiful; the pure English face, with its admirable blending of the healthy red and the delicate white; the ravishing brunette, with eyes brimful of desire and lips that seem made only to be kissed, — these were the varied charms that made up the combination of so much female loveliness. At about half-past nine o’clock, an excellent supper was served up. Poultry, game, French dishes, sweets, preserved fruits, and wines were spread with no niggard hand upon the board, at the head of which Mrs. Brace took her seat. And it was an enchanting spectacle to behold that really very handsome woman thus presiding at a table so well appointed in all its arrangements, and surrounded by a bevy of the most lovely girls that could possibly have been collected together. In fact, the milliner was accustomed to regale her young ladies with the most luxurious living. She likewise paid them gocd salaries, and spared no expense in ensuring their comfort beneath her roof. Had they been her own daughters, she could not have treated them better. But this was of course a matter of calculation on her part. They were useful to her; they constituted the main attraction of what may be termed the public department of her es- tablishment. For not only do fashionable ladies love to be attended upon by beautiful women, but husbands, brothers, and even friends are sure to take wives, sisters, and female acquaintances to those shops where the most charming girls are to be seen. Then again, they ensured her a choice, select, and lucrative patronage in the private branch of her avocations. For every one was sold over and over again to the aristocratic debauchees and noble or wealthy voluptuaries for whose special behoof the house in St. James’s Square was kept up; and as each of the houris in her establishment yielded Mrs. Brace hundreds of guineas per annum, she could well afford to regale them in excellent style, as it was also her interest to render them satisfied with their position and retain them in her employment. But let us glance at their behaviour at the supper-table. | GOmicdooks (S©)