Eastignac was at her left hand on a low chair, in which he
looked settled like an Italian lady's "cousin." A third person
was standing by the corner of the chimney-piece. As the
shrewd doctor had suspected, the Marquise was a woman of
a parched and wiry constitution. But for her regimen her
complexion must have taken the ruddy tone that is produced
by constant heat; but she added to the effect of her acquired
pallor by the strong colors of the stuffs she hung her rooms
with, or in which she dressed. Eeddish-brown, marone, bistre
with a golden light in it, suited her to perfection. Her
boudoir, copied from that of a famous lady then at the height
of fashion in London, was in tan-colored velvet; but she had
added various details of ornament which moderated the
pompous splendor of this royal hue. Her hair was dressed



THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 341

like a girl's in bands ending in curls, which emphasized the
rather long oval of her face; but an oval face is as majestic
as a round one is ignoble. The mirrors, cut with facets to
lengthen or flatten the face at will, amply prove the rule as
applied to the physiognomy.
