In this instance it was Alice Penhallow , daughter of `` young '' John Penhallow , who was to be married . Alice was a nice girl , but she and her wedding only pertain to this story in so far as they furnish a background for Lucinda ; hence nothing more need be said of her . On the afternoon of her wedding day -- the Penhallows held to the good , old-fashioned custom of evening weddings with a rousing dance afterwards -- Penhallow Grange was filled to overflowing with guests who had come there to have tea and rest themselves before going down to `` young '' John 's . Many of them had driven fifty miles . In the big autumnal orchard the younger fry foregathered and chatted and coquetted . Up-stairs , in `` old '' Mrs. John 's bedroom , she and her married daughters held high conclave . `` Old '' John had established himself with his sons and sons-in-law in the parlour , and the three daughters-in-law were making themselves at home in the blue sitting-room , ear-deep in harmless family gossip . Lucinda and Romney Penhallow were also there . Thin Mrs. Nathaniel Penhallow sat in a rocking chair and toasted her toes at the grate , for the brilliant autumn afternoon was slightly chilly and Lucinda , as usual , had the window open . She and plump Mrs. Frederick Penhallow did most of the talking . Mrs. George Penhallow being rather out of it by reason of her newness . She was George Penhallow 's second wife , married only a year . Hence , her contributions to the conversation were rather spasmodic , hurled in , as it were , by dead reckoning , being sometimes appropriate and sometimes savouring of a point of view not strictly Penhallowesque . Romney Penhallow was sitting in a corner , listening to the chatter of the women , with the inscrutable smile that always vexed Mrs. Frederick . Mrs. George wondered within herself what he did there among the women . She also wondered just where he belonged on the family tree . He was not one of the uncles , yet he could not be much younger than George . `` Forty , if he is a day , '' was Mrs. George 's mental dictum , `` but a very handsome and fascinating man . I never saw such a splendid chin and dimple . '' Lucinda , with bronze-colored hair and the whitest of skins , defiant of merciless sunlight and revelling in the crisp air , sat on the sill of the open window behind the crimson vine leaves , looking out into the garden , where dahlias flamed and asters broke into waves of purple and snow .
The ruddy light of the autumn afternoon gave a sheen XXXXX the waves of her hair and brought out the exceeding purity of her Greek outlines .
among as behind for in into of on to within