Beulah

Excerpt from Beulah: A Novel
A January sun had passed the zenith, and the slanting rays flamed over the window panes of a large brick building, bearing on its front in golden letters the inscription, "Orphan Asylum." The structure was commodious, and surrounded by wide galleries, while the situation offered a silent tribute to the discretion and good sense of the board of managers. The front door was closed, but upon the broad granite steps, where the sunlight lay warm and tempting, sat a trio of the inmates. In the foreground was a slight, fairy form, "a wee, winsome thing," with coral lips, and large, soft blue eyes, set in a frame of short, clustering golden curls. She looked about six years old, and was clad, like her companions, in canary-colored flannel dress and blue-check apron. Lillian was the pet of the asylum, and now her rosy cheek rested upon her tiny white palm, as though she wearied of the picture book which lay at her feet. The figure beside her was one whose marvelous beauty riveted the gaze of all who chanced to see her. The child could have been but a few months older than Lillian, yet the brilliant black eyes, the peculiar curve of the dimpled mouth, and long, dark ringlets gave to the oval face a maturer and more piquant loveliness. The cast of Claudia's countenance bespoke her foreign parentage, and told of the warm, fierce Italian blood that glowed in her cheeks. On the upper step, in the rear of these two, sat a girl whose age could not have been very accurately guessed from her countenance. At a first, casual glance, one thought Beulah rather homely, nay, decidedly ugly; yet, to the curious physiognomist, this face presented greater attractions than either of the others. A pair of large gray eyes set beneath an overhanging forehead, a boldly projecting forehead, broad and smooth; a rather large, but finely cut mouth, an irreproachable nose, of the order farthest removed from aquiline, and heavy, black eyebrows, which, instead of arching, stretched straight across and nearly met.
"What is to-day? Let me see, Wednesday; yes, this is the evening for the ladies to meet here.
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