She looked at the handsome Calyste
without ill-humor; but a first spasm of jealousy seized her, and she
felt the dreadful madness of rivalry when she came in sight of the two
Parisian women, and suspected the cause of his coldness.
Charlotte de Kergarouet was a girl of ordinary height, and commonplace
coloring; she had a little round face, made lively by a pair of black
eyes which sparkled with cleverness, abundant brown hair, a round
waist, a flat back, thin arms, and the curt, decided manner of a
provincial girl, who did not want to be taken for a little goose. She
was the petted child of the family on account of the preference her
aunt showed for her. At this moment she was wrapped in a mantle of
Scotch merino in large plaids, lined with green silk, which she had
worn on the boat. Her travelling-dress, of some common stuff, chastely
made with a chemisette body and a pleated collar, was fated to appear,
even to her own eyes, horrible in comparison with the fresh toilets of
Beatrix and Camille. She was painfully aware of the stockings soiled
among the rocks as she had jumped from the boat, of shabby leather
shoes, chosen for the purpose of not spoiling better ones on the
journey,--a fixed principle in the manners and customs of provincials.
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