The older girl, Lily, according to the inscription, had her eyes focused directly on the camera. Her expression was difficult to read, not quite sad, not quite angry, something closer to resignation or perhaps determination. The younger girl, Rose, had her head tilted slightly toward her sister. Her eyes were also on the camera, but they seemed unfocused, glazed.
Her mouth was slightly open, and then Helen noticed the hand. Rose’s hand, the one holding Lily’s, had an odd quality to it. The fingers were curled in a way that didn’t seem natural. The skin tone appeared slightly different from the rest of her visible skin. darker perhaps or discolored in a way that the sepia tone didn’t quite hide.
Helen pulled out her measurement tools and examined the photographs dimensions and mounting style. Everything was consistent with 1895 photography techniques. The image wasn’t a modern forgery, but there was something wrong about it that she couldn’t articulate. She decided to have the photograph digitally scanned at the highest possible resolution.
