Penny Blood Serial Fiction — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

MR. HARLEY 13 vantage than on the present occasion. The corsage of their gowns being very low, according to the fashion of the time, would have left their white and gracefully sloping shoulders completely uncovered, had not the luxuriant curls showered down upon them, wantoning also over the rich contours that shaped their firm, plump, and well-rounded busts. The glance of an experienced eye would have, however, shown that Octavia had devoted more care than Pauline to her toilet. The younger sister was satisfied when the mirror told her that she looked as well as ever she did in her best apparel; but Octavia had studied to excel on this special occasion. Never had she bestowed so much pains upon that glorious auburn hair, which in its warm and sunny hues seemed to indicate the ardent nature of her temperament; never had she stood so long before the glass to admire those _ deep blue eyes which now seemed melting with voluptuous languor; and never had she before thought of observing which smiles imparted the sweetest expression to her moist red lips, or set off her brilliant teeth to the greatest advan- tage. She felt proud and happy in the consciousness of transcendent loveliness; and as she cast a slow, lingering look over her entire form as it was reflected in the long mirror, her cheeks flushed with exultation and her neck arched superbly, as if in anticipation of some triumph which her charms were destined to achieve. And now behold the two sisters seated in the front par- lour, one on either side of the cheerful fire that blazes in the erate. The curtains are drawn over the window, the lamp diffuses a softly golden lustre throughout the small but comfortable room, and the table is spread with the tea- things, which give an air of such perfect domesticity to the scene that a prince, had he been present, would have gladly accepted the invitation of those beautiful girls to join them in the humble meal. Pauline was whiling away the time with a romance; Octavia was absorbed in her reflections. These were, how- ever, by no means disagreeable; for, with the sanguine dis- position characteristic of her age and her inexperience, she had fallen into a train of thought which gradually led her on to a shadowing forth of her own views of happiness, — that de- lightful castle-building upon the golden sands of the future. _ The expected coming of Mr. Harley had led her to reflect GOMmiiGdoo <S) (C©@)