r of oval, hazel eyes which
were rather bright for his time of life, and relieved the heaviness of
his face. He played constantly with a little green stone attached to his
watch-chain, thus displaying long and very sensitive fingers, and had
a habit of moving his head hither and thither very quickly without
altering the position of his large and rather corpulent body, so that he
seemed to be providing himself incessantly with food for amusement and
reflection with the least possible expenditure of energy. One might
suppose that he had passed the time of life when his ambitions were
personal, or that he had gratified them as far as he was likely to
do, and now employed his considerable acuteness rather to observe and
reflect than to attain any result.

Katharine, so Denham decided, while Mr. Fortescue built up another
rounded structure of words, had a likeness to each of her parents, but
these elements were rather oddly blended. She had the quick, impulsive
movements of her mother, the lips parting often to speak, and closing
again; and the dark oval eyes of her father brimming with light upon
a basis of sadness, or, since she was too young to have acquired a
sorrowful point of view, one might say that the basis was not sadness so
much as a spirit given to contemplation and self-control. Judging by her
hair, her coloring, and the shape of her features, she was striking,
if not actually beautiful. Decision and composure stamped her, a
combination of qualities that produced a very marked character, and one
that was not calculated to put a young man, who scarcely knew her, at
his ease. For the rest, she was tall; her dress was of some quiet color,
with old yellow-tinted lace for ornament, to which the spark of an
ancient jewel gave its one red gleam. Denham noticed that, although
silent, she kept sufficient control of the situation to answer
immediately her mother appealed to her for help, and yet it was obvious
to him that she attended only with the surface skin of her mind. It
struck him that her position at the tea-table, among all these elderly
people, was not without its difficulties, and he checked his inclination
to find her, or her attitude, generally antipathetic to him. The talk
had passed over Manchester, after dealing with it very generously.

"Would it be the Battle of Trafalgar or the Spanish Armada, Katharine?"
her mother demanded.

"Trafalgar, mother."

"Trafalgar, of course! How stupid of me! Another cu