But her prettiness was what he had noticed first, and all the other things had come afterward: cruelty, meanness, self-will.

At first Matilda could not believe her own eyes.

Even the knowledge that she was losing another boy, as a mother always does when a marriage is made, did not prevent her from having the first carefree, dreamless sleep that she had known since they dropped down the canyon and into Bear Valley, way, way back there when they were crossing those other mountains.

It was her first smile.

And that is the way I first saw her when my Uncle brought her into his antique store.

Miss Langford ( her first name was Evelyn ) was an attractive girl.

This included Mamma, jolly, generous, and pretty, with whom they all fell in love, just as Papa had first fallen in love with her Mamma before he chose her ; ;

And just as `` Laurie '' Lawrence was first attracted to bright Jo March, who found him immature by her high standards, and then had to content himself with her younger sister Amy, so Joe Jastrow, who had also been writing Henrietta before he came to Johns Hopkins, had to content himself with her younger sister, pretty Rachel.

The first thing to do is get her some money by a temporary but definite adjustment pending a final disposition of the case.

She was more excited than frightened at the prospect of having her first child in a foreign land.

Even the first wave of homesickness had passed, although there were moments when Captain Heard pointed out on his compass the direction of Bradford that she felt a little twinge at her heart.

Cautiously she sampled her first pineapple and another fruit whose taste she likened to that of `` a rich pear ''.

The first royalty whom Mama ever waited on in the White House was Queen Marie of Rumania, who came to a State dinner given in her honor on October 21, 1926.

Perhaps Mrs. Meynell would do me the undeserved kindness to keep my own copy of the first edition of my first book, with all its mementos of her and the dear ones.

Meynell once again paid his debts and it was Katie, rather than Thompson, whose life was soon ended, for she died in childbirth in April, 1901, in the first year of her marriage.

Catherine's first war against the Grand Turk had ended in 1774 with a peace treaty quite favorable to her.

To consolidate what her Navy had won, the Czarina was fortunate that, for the first time in Russian history, her land forces enjoyed absolute unity of command under her favorite Giaour.

Since she could not act, one part suited her as well as any other, and so she was the first person to offer Mr. Lincoln a glass of water, holding it up to the box, high above her head, to Miss Harris, who had asked for it.

Later that year, Davenport won her first Tier III title at the European Open where she beat Nicole Bradtke in three sets in the finals.

The Zürich title left her with eleven Tier I titles, second among active players.

Venus won her sixth title of the year at the Tier I event in Zurich, defeating World No. 1 Hingis in the final.

Williams also reached the semifinals of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, California, where she controversially defaulted her match with sister Serena just before the match started.

At the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Williams defeated Conchita Martínez in the final to win her first title in over a year and the second Tier I title on clay of her career.

At her next tournament, the Tier II Open Gaz de France in Paris, Mauresmo lost in the quarterfinals to Anna Chakvetadze, 6 – 3, 3 – 6, 3 – 6.

At the Tier II Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Mauresmo reached her third quarterfinal of the year, but was unable to hold off second seed and eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, losing 1 – 6, 6 – 7.

Her German Open victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati in a semifinal and Serena Williams in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.

In May, Henin successfully defended her Tier I title at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin.

At the Tier I Zurich Open the following week, Henin reached her sixth consecutive final where she defeated Serbia's Jelena Dokić.

By the end of the 2004 spring hard court season, Henin had built a 25-match Tier I winning streak and a 22 – 1 win-loss record ( winning her first 16 matches ).

Henin captured her second title of the year at a Tier II event in Dubai, defeating Sharapova 7 – 5, 6 – 2.

On clay, Henin failed to retain her title at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, losing in the semifinals to third-seeded Patty Schnyder 2 – 6, 6 – 3, 6 – 2.

Henin then withdrew from the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina because of an injury to her right knee.

At the Tier I, clay court Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin lost in the third round to Dinara Safina 5 – 7, 6 – 3, 6 – 1, in what turned out to be her last match before retirement.

The day after her defeat, Henin withdrew from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d ' Italia in Rome, citing fatigue.

Date made her WTA Tour comeback at the Tier I event in Tokyo, Japan, where she has been awarded a wildcard into the qualifying tournament.

She played in the Sydney Olympics and reached her first Tier I quarterfinal in Zürich, where she lost to world number 1 Martina Hingis.

She then had a solid indoors performance, reaching the quarterfinals in Leipzig ( became the first Russian to beat Anna Kournikova ) and to the semifinals in Moscow, her first career Tier I SF ).

She won her first Tier II title in Bahia, and another runner-up finish in Leipzig confirmed her spot in WTA Tour Championships.

I just can't take any chances on getting her pregnant, and if we were sleeping together ''

`` I saw your fire '', she said, speaking slowly, making an effort to control her anger.

`` I won't force Beth to come against her will.

`` Got a lot to tend to, but I'll get back quick as I can '', he assured her.

`` I've got her as neat as I can '', Donovan said, as he dropped the straps of the Seton harness over Greg's shoulders.

I let up on the accelerator, only to gradually reach again the 60 m.p.h. which would, I hoped, overhaul Herry and the blonde, and as there were cars whose drivers apparently had something more important to catch than had I, Mrs. Major Roebuck settled down to practicing on Corporal Johnson the kittenish wiles she would need when making her duty call on Colonel and Mrs. Somebody in Sante Fe.

How lightly her `` eventshah-leh '' passed into the crannies where I was storing dialect material for some vaguely dreamed opus, and how the word would echo.

I guided her to the divan, turned off the TV, faced her.

She was still hugging the stained coat around her, so I said, `` Relax, let me take your things.

She stood up, pulled the coat from her shoulders and started to slide it off, then let out a high-pitched scream and I let out a low-pitched, wobbling sound like a muffler blowing out.

There had been a good second or two during which my muffler had been blowing out, and now I was certain I'd seen her somewhere before.

I sat by her on the divan.

She realized I'd have to notify the police, but fervently hoped I could avoid mentioning her name.

But I promised Joyce I would mention her name, if at all, only as a last resort.

I showed her the shower and tub, and she said, smiling, `` If you really don't mind, I think I'll get clean in the shower, then soak for a few minutes in your tub.

One Monday morning I saw him approach the store with a woman and introduce me to her as my new Aunt.

You must forgive me if I seem to dwell too much on her physical aspects but I am an artist, accustomed to studying the physical body.