But in the East, of course, at the age of
ten a girl is counted marriageable; at the age of fourteen she is not
infrequently the devoted mother of a family.
Significantly--from the point of view of the Damar Greefe Law--my ward
had grown up, not as English girls grow, but, like the Easterners, as
the hot-house flower grows. The point has intense interest for the
scientist. At the age of twelve she was a tall, slender woman,
beautifully formed and with a natural elegance and taste which came
from the Coverly stock, or possibly from her mother's side.
During eleven months of every year it would have been possible---
although I considered it undesirable--for her to have appeared in
public unveiled. She possessed features of perfect _Ancient Egyptian
regularity_. I emphasize the point. Her eyes, during the day, were
those of a handsome native woman--almond-shaped and of a wonderful
amber color. At night they appeared green.
Of her fingers, toes, and the peculiar formation of certain teeth I
have spoken at length (_another reference to a deleted passage_). I
will deal, now, with those manifestations which proclaimed themselves
during the Sothic month of each year formerly associated with the
Feast of Bast.
At such times, which I always dreaded, and with good cause, her innate
love of admiration became so excessive as to approach nearly to mania.
She hungered for homage, for praise--I had almost said for adoration.
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