People , who knew , rarely attempted it ; strangers occasionally did , misled by the deceit of appearances . Isabella Spencer was a wisp of a woman , with a pale , pretty face , uncertainly-colored , long-lashed grayish eyes , and great masses of dull , soft , silky brown hair . She had delicate aquiline features and a small , babyish red mouth . She looked as if a breath would sway her . The truth was that a tornado would hardly have caused her to swerve an inch from her chosen path . For a moment Rachel looked rebellious ; then she yielded , as she generally did in all differences of opinion with her mother . It was not worth while to quarrel over the comparatively unimportant matter of Aunt Jane 's invitation . A quarrel might be inevitable later on ; Rachel wanted to save all her resources for that . She gave her shoulders a shrug , and wrote Aunt Jane 's name down on the wedding list in her large , somewhat untidy handwriting -- a handwriting which always seemed to irritate her mother . Rachel never could understand this irritation . She could never guess that it was because her writing looked so much like that in a certain packet of faded letters which Mrs. Spencer kept at the bottom of an old horsehair trunk in her bedroom . They were postmarked from seaports all over the world . Mrs. Spencer never read them or looked at them ; but she remembered every dash and curve of the handwriting . Isabella Spencer had overcome many things in her life by the sheer force and persistency of her will . But she could not get the better of heredity . Rachel was her father 's daughter at all points , and Isabella Spencer escaped hating her for it only by loving her the more fiercely because of it . Even so , there were many times when she had to avert her eyes from Rachel 's face because of the pang of the more subtle remembrances ; and never , since her child was born , could Isabella Spencer bear to gaze on that child 's face in sleep . Rachel was to be married to Frank Bell in a fortnight 's time . Mrs. Spencer was pleased with the match . She was very fond of Frank , and his farm was so near to her own that she would not lose Rachel altogether .
Rachel fondly believed that her mother would not XXXXX her at all ; but Isabella Spencer , wiser by olden experience , knew what her daughter 's marriage must mean to her , and steeled her heart to bear it with what fortitude she might .
avert born chosen faded gaze guess looked lose married wrote