ssive, important, and supremely polite. His face was a strange
combination of imbecility and assumption; while his head, which was
particularly developed in the back part, indicating low instincts that
were evidently only repressed as occasion required, was consistent with
the formation of his square, flat forehead, which sloped back at a
suspiciously sharp angle from a pair of little, gray, expressionless
eyes, which from the lack of intelligence behind them would look you out
of face without blinking. His nose was straight and solidly set below,
like some sharp instrument, to assist him in getting on in the world.
His lips, though not unusually gross or sensual, had a way of opening
and closing, during the pauses of conversation with a persistency of
assertion that had the effect of keeping in the mind of the average
listener that great weight should be attached to what Mr. Harcout had
said, or was about to say; and at the same time, as also when he
patronizingly smiled, which was almost constantly, disclosed a set of
teeth of singular regularity and dazzling whiteness. A pair of very
large ears, closely-cut and neatly-trimmed hair, and a whitish-olive
complexion that suggested sluggish blood and a lack of fine
organization, complete the sketch of his face, but could never give the
full effect of the grandeur of his assumption and manners, which were a
huge burlesque on chivalric courtliness. As he entered the room his
gloved hand swept to the rim of his faultless silk hat, and removed it
with an indescribably graceful gesture that actually seemed to make the
hat say, "Ah! my very dear sir, while I belong to a gentleman of the
vastest importance imaginable, be assured that we are both
inexpressibly honored by this interview!" Nor were these all of his
strikingly good points. He was a man that was always dressed in a suit
of the finest procurable cloth, most artistically fitted to his
commanding figure, and never a day passed when there was not an
exquisite favor in the neat button-hole of his collar. When he had
become seated in a most dignified and engaging manner, he had a neat
habit of showing his little foot encased in patent leather so shining
that, at a pinch, it might have answered for a mirror, by carelessly
throwing his right leg over his left knee, so that he could keep up an
incessant tapping upon his boot with the disengaged glove which his left
hand contained; and, with his head thrown slightly back and to