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In figure and complexion she belonged to the true Australian type—thin, flexible, and tanned to the transparent brown tint which is only acquired by long intimacy with the strong sunshine and dry air of the most stimulating climate in the world. She was not tall, but her throat and shoulders were beautifully moulded, and gave promise of vocal power. Many Australian girls gain from the very defects of their physique—its narrowness and unsubstantial outlines—a certain airy, floating charm of movement all their own; but Alice Lauder had by no means attained to this state of grace. She walked with an awkward school-boy slouch, and, except when seated at the piano, always appeared to have more hands and feet than were required for her own immediate use. Her yellow-brown hair was badly arranged round a high Spanish comb at the top of her head, and was always coming down, without even the apology of being curly. Her eyes were blue, a deep auroral blue, and shone like silver when she was excited; they were so expressive that one almost excused the rest of her features from showing more than the usual pleasant commonplace of youth and health. In time, when thought and experience should leave their unalterable stamp on those soft and malleable out-