“But Monsieur Desire was in a hurry to get here to save you from anxiety,” explained Cabirolle.

“But if there was no accident why risk killing the horses?” she retorted.

The greetings of friends and acquaintances, the crowding of the young men around Desire, and the relating of the incidents of the journey took enough time for the mass to be concluded and the worshippers to issue from the church.  By mere chance (which manages many things) Desire saw Ursula on the porch as he passed along, and he stopped short amazed at her beauty.  His action also stopped the advance of the relations who accompanied him.

In giving her arm to her godfather, Ursula was obliged to hold her prayer-book in one hand and her parasol in the other; and this she did with the innate grace which graceful women put into the awkward or difficult things of their charming craft of womanhood.  If mind does truly reveal itself in all things, we may be permitted to say that Ursula’s attitude and bearing suggested divine simplicity.  She was dressed in a white cambric gown made like a wrapper, trimmed here and there with knots of blue ribbon.  The pelerine, edged with the same ribbon run through a broad hem and tied with bows like those on the dress, showed the great beauty of her shape.  Her throat, of a pure white, was charming in tone against the blue,—­the right color for a fair skin.  A long blue sash with floating ends defined a slender waist which seemed flexible,—­a most seductive charm in women.  She wore a rice-straw bonnet, modestly trimmed with ribbons like those of the gown, the strings of which were tied under her chin, setting off the whiteness of the straw and doing no despite to that of her beautiful complexion.  Ursula dressed her own hair naturally (a la Berthe, as it was then called) in heavy braids of fine, fair hair, laid flat on either side of the head, each little strand reflecting the light as she walked.  Her gray eyes, soft and proud at the same time, were in harmony with a finely modeled brow.  A rosy tinge, suffusing her cheeks like a cloud, brightened a face which was regular without being insipid; for nature had given her, by some rare privilege, extreme purity of form combined with strength of countenance.  The nobility of her life was manifest in the general expression of her person, which might have served as a model for a type of trustfulness, or of modesty.  Her health, though brilliant, was not coarsely apparent; in fact, her whole air was distinguished.  Beneath the little gloves of a light color it was easy to imagine her pretty hands.  The arched and slender feet were delicately shod in bronzed kid boots trimmed with a brown silk fringe.  Her blue sash holding at the waist a small flat watch and a blue purse with gilt tassels attracted the eyes of every woman she met.

“He has given her a new watch!” said Madame Cremiere, pinching her husband’s arm.

“Heavens! is that Ursula?” cried Desire; “I didn’t recognize her.”