ysical graces and
elegances of aristocracy, still further increased by his personally
superior bearing. His long, Bourbonine face was framed by whiskers and a
beard, carefully kept, elegantly cut, and black as jet. This color,
the same as that of his abundant hair, he now obtained by an Indian
cosmetic, very costly and used in Persia, the secret of which he kept
to himself. He deceived the most practised eye as to the white threads
which for some time past had invaded his hair. The remarkable property
of this dye, used by Persians for their beards only, is that it does not
render the features hard; it can be shaded by indigo to harmonize well
with the individual character of the skin. It was this operation that
Madame Mollot may have seen,--though people in Arcis, by way of a jest,
still ask themselves what it was that Madame Mollot saw.

Maxime had a very handsome forehead, blue eyes, a Greek nose, a pleasant
mouth, and a well-cut chin; but the circle of his eyes was now marked
with numberless lines, so fine that they might have been traced by a
razor and not visible at a little distance. His temples had similar
lines. The face was also slightly wrinkled. His eyes, like those of
gamblers who have sat up innumerable nights, were covered with a
glaze, but the glance, though it was thus weakened, was none the less
terrible,--in fact, it terrified; a hidden heat was felt beneath it, a
lava of passions not yet extinct. The mouth, once so fresh and rosy,
now had colder tints; it was straight no longer, but inclined to the
right,--a sinuosity that seemed to indicate falsehood. Vice had twisted
the lips, but the teeth were white and handsome.

These blemishes disappeared on a general view of his face and person.
His figure was so attractive that no young man could compete with Maxime
when on horseback in the Bois, where he seemed younger and more graceful
than the youngest and most graceful among them. The privilege of eternal
youth has been possessed by several men in our day.

The count was all the more dangerous because he seemed to be easy and
indolent, never showing the iron determination which he had about all
things. This apparent indifference, which enabled him to abet a popular
sedition for the purpose of strengthening the authority of a prince with
as much ability as he would have bestowed upon a court intrigue, had a
certain grace. People never distrust calmness and uniformity of manner,
especially in France, wher