CHAPTER XXI 290
In another moment I was within that apartment . There was every article of furniture looking just as it did on the morning I was first introduced to Mr . Brocklehurst : the very rug he had stood upon still covered the hearth . Glancing at the bookcases , I thought I could distinguish the two volumes of Bewick ' s British Birds occupying their old place on the third shelf , and Gulliver ' s Travels and the Arabian Nights ranged just above . The inanimate objects were not changed ; but the living things had altered past recognition .
Two young ladies appeared before me ; one very tall , almost as tall as Miss Ingram -- very thin too , with a sallow face and severe mien . There was something ascetic in her look , which was augmented by the extreme plainness of a straight-skirted , black , stuff dress , a starched linen collar , hair combed away from the temples , and the nun-like ornament of a string of ebony beads and a crucifix . This I felt sure was Eliza , though I could trace little resemblance to her former self in that elongated and colourless visage .
The other was as certainly Georgiana : but not the Georgiana I remembered -- the slim and fairy-like girl of eleven . This was a full-blown , very plump damsel , fair as waxwork , with handsome and regular features , languishing blue eyes , and ringleted yellow hair . The hue of her dress was black too ; but its fashion was so different from her sister ' s -- so much more flowing and becoming -- it looked as stylish as the other ' s looked puritanical .
In each of the sisters there was one trait of the mother -- and only one ; the thin and pallid elder daughter had her parent ' s Cairngorm eye : the blooming and luxuriant younger girl had her contour of jaw and chin -- perhaps a little softened , but still imparting an indescribable hardness to the countenance otherwise so voluptuous and buxom .
Both ladies , as I advanced , rose to welcome me , and both addressed me by the name of " Miss Eyre ." Eliza ' s greeting was delivered in a short , abrupt voice , without a smile ; and then she sat down again , fixed her eyes on the fire , and seemed to forget me . Georgiana added to her " How d ' ye do ?" several commonplaces about my journey , the weather , and so on , uttered in rather a drawling tone : and accompanied by sundry side-glances that