Letters of Two Brides

There is no silly weakness in the blue of my insolent eyes; the white

is pure mother-of-pearl, prettily marked with tiny veins, and the

thick, long lashes fall like a silken fringe. My forehead sparkles,

and the hair grows deliciously; it ripples into waves of pale gold,

growing browner towards the centre, whence escape little rebel locks,

which alone would tell that my fairness is not of the insipid and

hysterical type. I am a tropical blonde, with plenty of blood in my

veins, a blonde more apt to strike than to turn the cheek. What do you

think the hairdresser proposed? He wanted, if you please, to smooth my

hair into two bands, and place over my forehead a pearl, kept in place

by a gold chain! He said it would recall the Middle Ages.

I told him I was not aged enough to have reached the middle, or to

need an ornament to freshen me up!

The nose is slender, and the well-cut nostrils are separated by a

sweet little pink partition--an imperious, mocking nose, with a tip

too sensitive ever to grow fat or red. Sweetheart, if this won't find

a husband for a dowerless maiden, I'm a donkey. The ears are daintily

curled, a pearl hanging from either lobe would show yellow. The neck

is long, and has an undulating motion full of dignity. In the shade

the white ripens to a golden tinge. Perhaps the mouth is a little

large.

But how expressive! what a color on the lips! how prettily the

teeth laugh! Then, dear, there is a harmony running through all. What a gait! what

a voice! We have not forgotten how our grandmother's skirts fell into

place without a touch. In a word, I am lovely and charming. When the

mood comes, I can laugh one of our good old laughs, and no one will

think the less of me; the dimples, impressed by Comedy's light fingers

on my fair cheeks, will command respect. Or I can let my eyes fall and

my heart freeze under my snowy brows. I can pose as a Madonna with

melancholy, swan-like neck, and the painters' virgins will be nowhere;

my place in heaven would be far above them. A man would be forced to

chant when he spoke to me.

So, you see, my panoply is complete, and I can run the whole gamut of

coquetry from deepest bass to shrillest treble. It is a huge advantage

not to be all of one piece. Now, my mother is neither playful nor

virginal. Her only attitude is an imposing one; when she ceases to be

majestic, she is ferocious. It is difficult for her to heal the wounds

she makes, whereas I can wound and heal together. We are absolutely

unlike, and therefore there could not possibly be rivalry between us,

unless indeed we quarreled over the greater or less perfection of our

extremities, which are similar. I take after my father, who is shrewd

and subtle. I have the manner of my grandmother and her charming

voice, which becomes falsetto when forced, but is a sweet-toned chest

voice at the ordinary pitch of a quiet talk.