But I had got no further than the steps when Mrs. Montressor came sweeping down the hall in haste and , catching me by the arm , pulled me back as roughly as if it had been Bluebeard 's chamber itself into which I was venturing . Then , seeing my face , which I doubt not was startled enough , she seemed to repent of her haste and patted me gently on the head . `` There , there , little Beatrice ! Did I frighten you , child ? Forgive an old woman 's thoughtlessness . But be not too ready to go where you are not bidden , and never venture foot in the Red Room now , for it belongs to your Uncle Hugh 's wife , and let me tell you she is not over fond of intruders . '' I felt sorry overmuch to hear this , nor could I see why my new aunt should care if I went in once in a while , as had been my habit , to talk to the swallows and misplace nothing . But Mrs. Montressor saw to it that I obeyed her , and I went no more to the Red Room , but busied myself with other matters . For there were great doings at the Place and much coming and going . My aunts were never idle ; there was to be much festivity Christmas week and a ball on Christmas Eve . And my aunts had promised me -- though not till I had wearied them of my coaxing -- that I should stay up that night and see as much of the gaiety as was good for me . So I did their errands and went early to bed every night without complaint -- though I did this the more readily for that , when they thought me safely asleep , they would come in and talk around my bedroom fire , saying that of Alicia which I should not have heard . At last came the day when my Uncle Hugh and his wife were expected home -- though not until my scanty patience was well nigh wearied out -- and we were all assembled to meet them in the great hall , where a ruddy firelight was gleaming . My Aunt Frances had dressed me in my best white frock and my crimson sash , with much lamenting over my skinny neck and arms , and bade me behave prettily , as became my bringing up . So I slipped in a corner , my hands and feet cold with excitement , for I think every drop of blood in my body had gone to my head , and my heart beat so hardly that it even pained me . Then the door opened and Alicia -- for so I was used to hearing her called , nor did I ever think of her as my aunt in my own mind -- came in , and a little in the rear my tall , dark uncle . She came proudly forward to the fire and stood there superbly while she loosened her cloak , nor did she see me at all at first , but nodded , a little disdainfully , it seemed , to Mrs. Montressor and my aunts , who were grouped about the drawing-room door , very ladylike and quiet . But I neither saw nor heard aught at the time save her only , for her beauty , when she came forth from her crimson cloak and hood , was something so wonderful that I forgot my manners and stared at her as one fascinated -- as indeed I was , for never had I seen such loveliness and hardly dreamed it . Pretty women I had seen in plenty , for my aunts and my mother were counted fair , but my uncle 's wife was as little like to them as a sunset glow to pale moonshine or a crimson rose to white day-lilies . Nor can I paint her to you in words as I saw her then , with the long tongues of firelight licking her white neck and wavering over the rich masses of her red-gold hair .
She was tall -- so tall that my aunts looked but insignificant beside her , and they were XXXXX no mean height , as became their race ; yet no queen could have carried herself more royally , and all the passion and fire of her foreign nature burned in her splendid eyes , that might have been dark or light for aught that I could ever tell , but which seemed always like pools of warm flame , now tender , now fierce .
For if in of on than till to until while