t he
had never looked at a more evil face in all his life. Not that the man
was altogether ugly, for he had a good nose and a fine double chin; but
his eyes stood out like balls and were red and watery, and he winked
them continually, as though they were always smarting; and his lips
were thick and purple-red, and his fat, red cheeks were mottled here
and there with little clots of purple veins; and when he spoke his voice
rattled so in his throat that it made one wish to clear one's own throat
to listen to him. So, what with a pair of fat, white hands, and that
hoarse voice, and his swollen face, and his thick lips sticking out, it
seemed to Barnaby True he had never seen a countenance so distasteful to
him as that one into which he then looked.

But if Sir John Malyoe was so displeasing to our hero's taste, why, the
granddaughter, even this first time he beheld her, seemed to him to be
the most beautiful, lovely young lady that ever he saw. She had a thin,
fair skin, red lips, and yellow hair--though it was then powdered pretty
white for the occasion--and the bluest eyes that Barnaby beheld in all
of his life. A sweet, timid creature, who seemed not to dare so much as
to speak a word for herself without looking to Sir John for leave to do
so, and would shrink and shudder whenever he would speak of a sudden to
her or direct a sudden glance upon her. When she did speak, it was in so
low a voice that one had to bend his head to hear her, and even if she
smiled would catch herself and look up as though to see if she had leave
to be cheerful.

As for Sir John, he sat at dinner like a pig, and gobbled and ate and
drank, smacking his lips all the while, but with hardly a word to either
her or Mrs. Greenfield or to Barnaby True; but with a sour, sullen air,
as though he would say, "Your damned victuals and drink are no better
than they should be, but I must eat 'em or nothing." A great bloated
beast of a man!

Only after dinner was over and the young lady and the two misses sat off
in a corner together did Barnaby hear her talk with any ease. Then, to
be sure, her tongue became loose, and she prattled away at a great rate,
though hardly above her breath, until of a sudden her grandfather called
out, in his hoarse, rattling voice, that it was time to go. Whereupon
she stopped short in what she was saying and jumped up from her chair,
looking as frightened as though she had been caught in something amiss,
and was to be punis