Her daughter Ethel, who had left school in Paris but a few months, was the very counterpart of her lovely mother in her leading features. She had just completed her seventeenth year, and was of tall, graceful stature, with a perfect figure. The smallness of her waist contrasted perfectly with the ravishing fullness of bosom and wideness of hips. She had the liquid eyes of her mother, but they were suffused with a humidity that was perfectly maddening, and the expression of every feature of her lovely face and palpitating form spoke of a warmth of temperament and lascivious abandon that would have tempted an anchorite.

On a bright summer afternoon, in the year 18-, father, mother, and daughter were waiting at the railway station, anxiously expecting the arrival of the remaining member of the family, Frank, who, a year older than Ethel, had been finishing his education in Germany, and was now returning to take up his residence at Brackley.

At last the train arrived, and they hardly recognised the handsome, tall, and fine-looking young fellow who leaped out to greet them.

A few hours after reaching the house the parents noted a peculiar change that had taken place in their son. A dreamy languor seemed to have taken possession of him, in place of the exuberant flow of animal spirits that characterised him as a boy. He had a strange habit of looking as though he were endeavouring to read the very thoughts of those with whom he came in contact.

Mrs. Etheridge noticed this particularly, but thinking he was fatigued by his long journey, made no remark. But the most remarkable effect was produced on Ethel; her brother seemed utterly unable to remove his eyes from her. Her singular beauty, and the nameless charm that pervaded her, seemed to have an irresistible attraction for him. Every time that his eye rested on her she trembled violently, and seemed labouring under some mysterious and powerful influence. Her lovely breasts heaved, and the humidity of her eyes increased, and she still seemed unusually excited after her brother had left the room in order to dress for dinner.