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secretary, confidential plotter, adviser, intriguer, and bill of cost
increaser, Miss Brass - a kind of amazon at common law, of whom it
may be desirable to offer a brief description.
Miss Sally Brass, then, was a lady of thirty-five or thereabouts, of a
gaunt and bony figure, and a resolute bearing, which if it repressed
the softer emotions of love, and kept admirers at a distance, certainly
inspired a feeling akin to awe in the breasts of those male strangers
who had the happiness to approach her. In face she bore a striking
resemblance to her brother, Sampson - so exact, indeed, was the
likeness between them, that had it consorted with Miss Brass's
maiden modesty and gentle womanhood to have assumed her
brother's clothes in a frolic and sat down beside him, it would have
been difficult for the oldest friend of the family to determine which was
Sampson and which Sally, especially as the lady carried upon her
upper lip certain reddish demonstrations, which, if the imagination
had been assisted by her attire, might have been mistaken for a
beard. These were, however, in all probability, nothing more than
eyelashes in a wrong place, as the eyes of Miss Brass were quite free
from any such natural impertinencies. In complexion Miss Brass was
sallow - rather a dirty sallow, so to speak - but this hue was agreeably
relieved by the healthy glow which mantled in the extreme tip of her
laughing nose. Her voice was exceedingly impressive - deep and rich
in quality, and, once heard, not easily forgotten. Her usual dress was
a green gown, in colour not unlike the curtain of the office window,
made tight to the figure, and terminating at the throat, where it was
fastened behind by a peculiarly large and massive button. Feeling, no
doubt, that simplicity and plainness are the soul of elegance, Miss
Brass wore no collar or kerchief except upon her head, which was
invariably ornamented with a brown gauze scarf, like the wing of the
fabled vampire, and which, twisted into any form that happened to
suggest itself, formed an easy and graceful head-dress.
Such was Miss Brass in person. In mind, she was of a strong and
vigorous turn, having from her earliest youth devoted herself with
uncommon ardour to the study of law; not wasting her speculations
upon its eagle flights, which are rare, but tracing it attentively through
all the slippery and eel-like crawlings in which it commonly pursues
its way. Nor had she, like many persons of great intellect, confined
herself to theory, or stopped short where practical usefulness begins;
inasmuch as she could ingross, fair-copy, fill up printed forms with
perfect accuracy, and, in short, transact any ordinary duty of the
office down to pouncing a skin of parchment or mending a pen. It is
difficult to understand how, possessed of these combined attractions,
she should remain Miss Brass; but whether she had steeled her heart
against mankind, or whether those who might have wooed and won
her, were deterred by fears that, being learned in the law, she might
have too near her fingers' ends those particular statutes which
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