Czerlaski, Caroline, Countess

A pretty, selfish widow with small means, anxious to find a second husband with money. "The Countess Czerlaski was undeniably beautiful… small hands and feet, a tall lithe figure, large dark eyes, and dark silken braided hair. All these the Countess possessed, and she had, morever, a delicately formed nose, the least bit curved, and a clear brunette complexion. Her mouth, it must be admitted, receded too much from her nose and chin, and to prophetic eye threatened 'nut-crackers' in advanced age. But by the light of fire and wax candles that age seemed very far off indeed, and you would have said that the Countess was not more than thirty." After settling near Shepperton with her brother, Mr. Bridmain, she cultivates the acquaintance of the Bartons. When her brother marries her maid she quarters herself on the Bartons for many months, thus heavily taxing their small means, arousing gossip and bringing down on Mr. Barton's head the wrath of his parish. The prototype of the Countess Czerlaski was the "Countess Isabel". (Manuscript information; also Olcott, George Eliot, p. 15.)

<em>The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton</em>

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