"Give me some coffee, Mr. Hunsden."
I perceived my answer pleased him; he had doubtless expected to
see a chilling effect produced by his steady announcement that he
would give me neither wine nor spirits; he just shot one
searching glance at my face to ascertain whether my cordiality
was genuine or a mere feint of politeness. I smiled, because I
quite understood him; and, while I honoured his conscientious
firmness, I was amused at his mistrust; he seemed satisfied, rang
the bell, and ordered coffee, which was presently brought; for
himself, a bunch of grapes and half a pint of something sour
sufficed. My coffee was excellent; I told him so, and expressed
the shuddering pity with which his anchorite fare inspired me.
He did not answer, and I scarcely think heard my remark. At
that moment one of those momentary eclipses I before alluded to
had come over his face, extinguishing his smile, and replacing,
by an abstracted and alienated look, the customarily shrewd,
bantering glance of his eye. I employed the interval of silence
in a rapid scrutiny of his physiognomy. I had never observed him
closely before; and, as my sight is very short, I had gathered
only a vague, general idea of his appearance; I was surprised
now, on examination, to perceive how small, and even feminine,
were his lineaments; his tall figure, long and dark locks, his
voice and general bearing, had impressed me with the notion of
something powerful and massive; not at all:--my own features were
cast in a harsher and squarer mould than his. I discerned that
there would be contrasts between his inward and outward man;
contentions, too; for I suspected his soul had more of will and
ambition than his body had of fibre and muscle. Perhaps, in these
incompatibilities of the "physique" with the "morale," lay the
secret of that fitful gloom; he WOULD but COULD not, and the
athletic mind scowled scorn on its more fragile companion. As to
his good looks, I should have liked to have a woman's opinion on
that subject; it seemed to me that his face might produce the
same effect on a lady that a very piquant and interesting, though
scarcely pretty, female face would on a man. I have mentioned
his dark locks--they were brushed sideways above a white and
sufficiently expansive forehead; his cheek had a rather hectic
freshness; his features might have done well on canvas, but
indifferently in marble: they were plastic; character had set a
stamp upon each; expression re-cast them at her pleasure, and
strange metamorphoses she wrought, giving him now the mien of a
morose bull, and anon that of an arch and mischievous girl; more
frequently, the two semblances were blent, and a queer, composite
countenance they made.
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