was bright with silver. His head and brow were nobly
formed, his set features fine and sensitive, but his thin face was
lined and gray. It was unmistakably the face of a dissipated man, but
oddly enough the chin was not noticeably weak, and the ideality of the
brow, and the delicacy of the nostril and upper lip were unaltered.
Nevertheless, and in spite of the suggestion of ease which still
lingered about his tall figure, there was something so abject about
his whole appearance, his painful self-consciousness at finding
himself once more among people that had justly cast him out was so
apparent, that Anne longed for an excuse to bid him go forth and hide
himself once more. But to dismiss him was the part of Lady Hunsdon,
who had no intention of doing anything of the sort. It is doubtful if
either she or any of the others saw aught in his bearing but the
natural embarrassment of a shy man at finding himself once more within
the enchanted circle. Lady Hunsdon expatiated upon the beauty of
Nevis, long familiar to her through his works, vowed that she had come
to the island only to see for herself how much he had exaggerated, but
was quite vanquished and speechless. Not to have met her son's most
valued friend would have blurred and flawed the wonderful experience.
Warner bowed gravely once or twice, but did not raise his eyes, to
Anne's continued relief: she dreaded what she must meet in them. If
the rest of his face was a ruin, what sinks of iniquity, what wells of
horror, must be those recording features? There were lines about them
and not from laughter! He looked as if he had never smiled. She pitied
him so deeply that she could have wept, for she had never seen an
unhappier mortal; but she had no desire to approach him further.

Miss Bargarny poured the tea, and when she passed his cup, roguishly
quoted a couplet from one of his poems; lines that had no reference to
tea--God knows, he had never written about tea--but which tripped from
her tongue so gracefully that they had the effect of sounding apropos.
He blushed slightly and bowed again; and shortly after, when all the
cups had been handed about and he had drained his own, seemed to
recover his poise, for he addressed a few remarks to Lady Hunsdon, at
whose right he sat. Anne, who was seated some distance from the table
could not even hear his voice, but Lady Hunsdon received such as he
ventured upon with so much _empressement_, that he manifestly rose in
courage