The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 184: what you’re looking at

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

CHRISTINA 157 naturally lustrous beaming was somewhat subdued by an innate modest bashfulness, and partially veiled by the long ebon lashes that fringed them. Her hair was of the very darkest shade, — not that of dull lustreless jet, but that of the shining glossiness of the raven’s plumage. It was not merely luxuriant, but of silken softness, and it fell not in ringlets, but in more massive tresses on either side of her beautiful countenance. The rosy hue of the lips set off teeth of a dazzling polish and faultlessly even. When beheld in her quiet moments — for she was now naturally excited by the scene which we have just described — there was a stamp of so much guileless truthfulness and virginal inno- cence about her that it was a wonder even the most daring libertine could for a single instant have been so thoroughly mistaken in her character and disposition as to suppose that she would listen to his overtures. Still speaking of her in her tranquil moments, we may add that there was a slight settled shade of melancholy, or perhaps rather of pensive- ness, on her beautiful countenance; yet this, in no way detracting from the charms which invested her, only perhaps undefinably enhanced them. We have already said that she was plainly but neatly dressed, and there was a natural erace In every movement and in every gesture of this sweet sirl. Her eyes, though bright, had none of passion’s fire in them; on the contrary, there was something of dovelike mildness in her looks, if such an expression can be applied to-the darkest eyes as well as to those of blue. The outline of her countenance was purely Grecian, and the upper lip had that short rich curl which with some women is the type of high birth, with others an evidence of that instinctive feminine dignity which disdains falsehood and is incapable of guile. Such was the interesting creature with whom Lord Oc- tavian Meredith now suddenly found himself alone. At the instant that he had rushed up to the spot, her counte- nance was crimsoned with indignation and a sense of out- raged virtue; the next moment, when the audacious libertine was stricken down to the earth, the colour fled from her cheeks, leaving them marble pale. She staggered against the railings which skirted the pathway of the road, and endeavoured to compose herself, so as to make suitable acknowledgments to her deliverer, but when she heard the ECORNICOOKS (E(O)