"I followed her into the drawing-room. Mrs. Pryor and Caroline Helstone were both there; she has summoned them to bear her company awhile. In her white evening dress, with her long hair flowing full and wavy, with her noiseless step, her pale cheek, her eye full of night and lightning, she looked, I thought, spirit-like--a thing made of an element, the child of a breeze and a flame, the daughter of ray and raindrop--a thing never to be overtaken, arrested, fixed. I wished I could avoid following her with my gaze as she moved here and there, but it was impossible. I talked with the other ladies as well as I could, but still I looked at her. She was very silent; I think she never spoke to me--not even when she offered me tea. It happened that she was called out a minute by Mrs. Gill. I passed into the moonlit hall, with the design of getting a word as she returned; nor in this did I fail.
"'Miss Keeldar, stay one instant,' said I, meeting her.

"I followed her into the drawing-room. Mrs. Pryor and Caroline Helstone were there. In her white evening dress, with her long hair flowing full, with her noiseless step, her eye full of night and lightning, Shirley looked, I thought, spirit-like - the child of a breeze and a flame, the daughter of ray and raindrop - a thing never to be arrested, fixed. I could not stop looking at her. I talked with the other ladies as well as I could, but still I looked at her. She was very silent; she never spoke to me.
"When she was called out for a minute by Mrs. Gill, I went into the moonlit hall, with the aim of getting a word as she returned.
"'Miss Keeldar, stay one instant,' said I.
