Blue and Green
Miss Marjoribanks is aware of the necessity to match complexion with attire, but she proves herself capable of going beyond mere fashion aesthetics. "There is a great deal in choosing colors that go well with one's complexion...but blue gets so soon tawdry. I think that I have enough complexion at present to venture upon a pale spring green." The interesting thing about this use of imagery is how colors are connected not just to pigmentation, but to the state of mind. It says a little something about Lucilla that she associates faded blue with tawdriness. And, by suggestion, green is its opposite: sophisticated.
Life's Tides
The narrator commences XXXVIII with an imagery-laden meditation on how life is like the changing of sea tides. "The stream runs low...and come rushing twice a day like a sea, carrying life and movement with them." This imagery of the constant motion of water due to tidal changes sets up its opposite. The narrative voice goes on to enhance this imagery through comparison by explaining how Lucilla had for some time been stuck in a state of dead water. With the coming of spring, however, comes the high life once again.
"Going Off"
The term "going off" is used as a metaphor for slipping past one's prime. A character named Barbara is at one point first described as having "expanded, as was natural to a contralto." The imagery only gets worse: "Her eyes...owned an indescribable amount of usage; and her cheeks, too, wore the deep roses of old, deepened and fixed by wear and tear." The effects of aging upon the rosy blossom of young women who are sliding into matrons means that she has "gone off." The saving grace is that it is also acknowledged that her husband has "gone off" as well.
Traveling Woman
Lucilla Marjoribanks wants to travel and gain an education through experience and contact. Upon announcing such plans, a future is foretold "in which you will marry some enchanting Italian with a beautiful black beard, and a voice like an angel; and he'll sing serenades to you." Unlike the woman saying this to Lucilla, however, this image of the consequences of travel is anything but to be wished for by Lucilla herself. Her response is she shall certainly never marry an Italian or, for that matter, a man of any other nationality until, at least, she has taken advantage of the opportunity to amuse herself.
