She recited her little piece very well , though somewhat mechanically . I think she really did much better than if she had had her desired curls . The miserable conviction that her hair , alone among that glossy-tressed bevy , was looking badly , quite blotted out all nervousness and self-consciousness from her mind . Her hair apart , she looked very pretty . The prevailing excitement had made bright her eye and flushed her cheeks rosily -- too rosily , perhaps . I heard a Carlisle woman behind me whisper that Cecily King looked consumptive , just like her Aunt Felicity ; and I hated her fiercely for it . Sara Ray also managed to get through respectably , although she was pitiably nervous . Her bow was naught but a short nod -- `` as if her head worked on wires , '' whispered Felicity uncharitably -- and the wave of her lily-white hand more nearly resembled an agonized jerk than a wave . We all felt relieved when she finished . She was , in a sense , one of `` our crowd , '' and we had been afraid she would disgrace us by breaking down . Felicity followed her and recited her selection without haste , without rest , and absolutely without any expression whatever . But what mattered it how she recited ? To look at her was sufficient . What with her splendid fleece of golden curls , her great , brilliant blue eyes , her exquisitely tinted face , her dimpled hands and arms , every member of the audience must have felt it was worth the ten cents he had paid merely to see her . The Story Girl followed . An expectant silence fell over the room , and Mr. Perkins ' face lost the look of tense anxiety it had worn all the evening . Here was a performer who could be depended on . No need to fear stage fright or forgetfulness on her part . The Story Girl was not looking her best that night . White never became her , and her face was pale , though her eyes were splendid .
But nobody thought about her appearance when the power and magic XXXXX her voice caught and held her listeners spellbound .
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