He was a pleasant-
mannered boy, ready to adapt himself to all circumstances and to
throw ready intelligent interest into everything, and he had won the
hearts of the whole River Hollow establishment, from old Mr. Gould
down to the smallest puppy.
Elfie, as he called her, stood her ground, and as she looked up under
her brown mushroom hat Caroline was struck with her beauty, fair, but
with a southern richness of bloom and glow-—the carnation cheek of a
depth of tint more often found in brunette complexions. The eyes
were not merely blue by courtesy, but of a wonderful deep azure,
shaded by very long lashes, dark except when the sun glinted them
with gold, and round her shoulders hung masses of hair of that
exquisite light auburn which cannot be accused of being red.
She let herself be greeted by the strangers with much more ease and
grace than the other two children, but the slow walk of her
grandfather and Colonel Brownlow seemed more than she could brook,
and she went off, flying and spinning round like a little dog.
While all the acknowledgments and farewells were being made, and
Colonel Brownlow was taking directions for finding Higg's house and
forge so as to remunerate him for his services, Elfie came hurrying
up to Allen, holding out a great, gorgeous pink-lined shell, and laid
within it two heads of scarlet geranium on a green leaf.
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