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Corelli, Marie, 1855-1924

"The Master-Christian"

And she was not without beauty--or perhaps it should be
termed loveliness rather,--of an exquisitely suggestive kind, which
provoked the beholder into questioning where and how the glamour of
it fell. In her eyes, perhaps, the secret lay,--they were violet-
grey in hue, and drowsy-lidded, with long lashes that swept the
delicate pale cheeks in a dark golden fringe of shadow, through
which the sparkle of vision gleamed,--now warningly, now tenderly,--
and anon, these same half-shut and deep fringed lids would open
wide, letting the full brilliance of the soul behind the eyes pour
forth its luminance, in flashes of such lightning-like clearness and
compelling force, that it was impossible not to recognise something
higher than mere woman in the dazzle of that spiritual glory. In
figure she was wonderfully slight,--so slight indeed that she
suggested a delicate willow-withe such as can be bent and curved
with one hand--yet this slightness stood her in good stead, for
being united with extreme suppleness, it gave her a grace of
movement resembling that of some skimming mountain bird or sea-
swallow, which flies with amazing swiftness yet seeming slowness.
Angela never moved quickly,--no one had ever seen her in what is
termed a "rush," or a vulgar hurry.


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