hape is already beginning to expand
into that portly embonpoint which seems the natural development of
contented men as they approach middle life. Audley, on the contrary, is
inclined to be spare; and his figure, though the muscles are as firm
as iron, has enough of the slender to satisfy metropolitan ideas of
elegance. His dress, his look, his tout ensemble, are those of the
London man. In the first, there is more attention to fashion than is
usual amongst the busy members of the House of Commons; but then Audley
Egerton has always been something more than a mere busy member of
the House of Commons. He has always been a person of mark in the
best society; and one secret of his success in life has been his high
reputation as "a gentleman."

As he now bends over the journals, there is an air of distinction in the
turn of the well-shaped head, with the dark brown hair,--dark in spite
of a reddish tinge,--cut close behind, and worn away a little towards
the crown, so as to give an additional height to a commanding forehead.
His profile is very handsome, and of that kind of beauty which imposes
on men if it pleases women; and is, therefore, unlike that of your mere
pretty fellows, a positive advantage in public life. It is a profile
with large features clearly cut, masculine, and somewhat severe. The
expression of his face is not open, like the squire's, nor has it the
cold closeness which accompanies the intellectual character of
young Leslie's; but it is reserved and dignified, and significant of
self-control, as should be the physiognomy of a man accustomed to think
before he speaks. When you look at him, you are not surprised to learn
that he is not a florid orator nor a smart debater,--he is a "weighty
speaker." He is fairly read, but without any great range either of
ornamental scholarship or constitutional lore. He has not much humour;
but he has that kind of wit which is essential to grave and serious
irony. He has not much imagination, nor remarkable subtlety in
reasoning; but if he does not dazzle he does not bore,--he is too much
of the man of the world for that. He is considered to have sound sense
and accurate judgment. Withal, as he now lays aside the journals, and
his face relaxes its austerer lines, you will not be astonished to hear
that he is a man who is said to have been greatly beloved by women,
and still to exercise much influence in drawing-rooms and boudoirs. At
least, no one was surprised when the g