nt was a widower, the father of but one child. It
must not be supposed that, although he seriously purposed embarking in a
business enterprise, he had failed to appropriate a goodly share of that
pride which had both descended by inheritance, and been liberally
instilled into his mind by education. His character was strongly stamped
with the Breton traits of obstinacy and perseverance, and he was gifted
with an unaristocratic amount of energy. When an idea once took
possession of his brain, he patiently and diligently brought the embryo
thought to fruition, in spite of all disheartening obstacles. He was
narrow-minded and selfish when any interests save his own and those of
his mother and son were at stake. These were the only two beings whom he
loved, and he only loved them because they were _his_--a portion of
_himself_; and it was merely himself that he loved through them. In a
certain sense, he was a devoted son. His education had rendered him
punctilious, to the highest degree, in the observance of all those forms
that betoken filial veneration. He always treated his august mother with
the most profound reverence. He paid her the most courteous
attentions,--opened the doors when she desired to pass, placed
footstools for her feet, knelt promptly to pick up the handkerchief or
glove she dropped, was ever ready to offer her his arm for her support,
and seldom combated her opinions.

The first time he had openly ventured to oppose her views was in the
conversation we have just related.

She looked so regal, as she sat before him in a richly carved antique
chair, which she occupied as though it had been a throne, that, in spite
of the blind obstinacy with which she refused to see her own interests
and his, Count Tristan could not help regarding her with admiration.

She was still strikingly handsome, notwithstanding the sixty winters
which had bleached her raven locks to the most uncompromising white.
Those snowy tresses fell in soft and glossy curls about her scarcely
furrowed countenance. Her forehead was somewhat low and narrow; the
face, a decided oval; the nose, almost straight; the eyes almond-shaped,
and of a jetty blackness, flashing out from beneath brows that were
remarkable for the fine, dark line that designated their arch. The mouth
was the least pleasing feature,--it was too small, and unsuggestive of
varied expression; the lips not only lacked fulness, but wore a
supercilious curl that had become habit