ty and cunning that I remembered so well. One thing was
quite plain, however profoundly I may have been affected by my proximity
to this singular being: I was not the only one who came within the
sphere of his influence. Indeed, it was strange to notice the manner in
which the polite crowd drew away from him, and the different expressions
upon their faces as they stepped aside in order to give him room to
pass. Had he been a snake, they could scarcely have shown a more
unanimous desire to withdraw from his neighbourhood. On this occasion
he was evidently not alone. I gathered this from the fact that, as soon
as he had emerged from the crowd, he paused as if to wait for a
companion. A moment later a woman come to his side--a woman who carried
herself like a daughter of the gods; the most beautiful creature, I can
safely assert, that I have ever seen either in this or any other
country. If her companion's height was below the average, hers was at
least several inches above it. But it was neither her stature, the
exquisite symmetry of her figure, the beauty of her face, the luxuriance
of her hair, nor the elegance of her attire that fascinated me. It was
the expression I saw in her dark, lustrous eyes.

It is essential to my profession that I should be continually studying
the human face, attempting to obtain from it some clew as to the
character of the owner, and learning to read in it the workings of the
mind within. And what I read in this woman's face was a sorrow that
nothing could assuage, a hopelessness that was not limited to this
earth, but was fast passing into the Eternal.

Having once freed herself from the crowd, who, you may be sure, turned
and stared after her as if she were some rare and beautiful animal, she
took her place at her companion's side, and they passed along the room
together, finally disappearing through the archway at the farther end. A
moment later the eldest of my friend's daughters joined me. I had never
credited her with the possession of so much emotion as she displayed at
that moment.

"Mr. Forrester," she said, "I want you to tell me if you have ever seen
anything so awful as that old man's face?"

"I think I can safely say that I never have," I answered; and then, in
an attempt to conceal the emotion I was still feeling, added, "I wonder
who he can be?"

"I can not imagine," she continued, "but I'm certain of this, that I
never want to see him again."

At that moment we were joi