CHAPTER XVII 215
and piquant in form ; her white muslin dress and blue sash became her well . The second , Louisa , was taller and more elegant in figure ; with a very pretty face , of that order the French term minois chiffone : both sisters were fair as lilies .
Lady Lynn was a large and stout personage of about forty , very erect , very haughty-looking , richly dressed in a satin robe of changeful sheen : her dark hair shone glossily under the shade of an azure plume , and within the circlet of a band of gems .
Mrs . Colonel Dent was less showy ; but , I thought , more lady-like . She had a slight figure , a pale , gentle face , and fair hair . Her black satin dress , her scarf of rich foreign lace , and her pearl ornaments , pleased me better than the rainbow radiance of the titled dame .
But the three most distinguished -- partly , perhaps , because the tallest figures of the band -- were the Dowager Lady Ingram and her daughters , Blanche and Mary . They were all three of the loftiest stature of women . The Dowager might be between forty and fifty : her shape was still fine ; her hair ( by candle-light at least ) still black ; her teeth , too , were still apparently perfect . Most people would have termed her a splendid woman of her age : and so she was , no doubt , physically speaking ; but then there was an expression of almost insupportable haughtiness in her bearing and countenance . She had Roman features and a double chin , disappearing into a throat like a pillar : these features appeared to me not only inflated and darkened , but even furrowed with pride ; and the chin was sustained by the same principle , in a position of almost preternatural erectness . She had , likewise , a fierce and a hard eye : it reminded me of Mrs . Reed ' s ; she mouthed her words in speaking ; her voice was deep , its inflections very pompous , very dogmatical , -- very intolerable , in short . A crimson velvet robe , and a shawl turban of some gold-wrought Indian fabric , invested her ( I suppose she thought ) with a truly imperial dignity .
Blanche and Mary were of equal stature , -- straight and tall as poplars . Mary was too slim for her height , but Blanche was moulded like a Dian . I regarded her , of course , with special interest . First , I wished to see whether