ace, with great cheekbones and massive jaws; a
low forehead surmounted by a dense brush of up-standing grayish-brown
hair; beetling brows and eyes deep-set, fierce and furtive; combined to
make a sufficiently unprepossessing countenance. Nor was his manner more
pleasing. He scowled forbiddingly at me, he scrutinized the other
customer, craning sideways to survey him in the mirror, he looked about
the shop and he stared inquisitively at the parlor door. Every movement
was expressive of watchful, uneasy suspicion.

"I tried to avoid looking at him lest my face should betray me, and, to
divert my thoughts, concentrated my attention on the other customer. The
latter unconsciously gave me every assistance in doing so. Though by no
means a young man, he was the vainest and most dandified client I had
ever had under my hands. He stopped me repeatedly to give exhaustive
directions as to the effect that he desired me to produce. He examined
himself in the glass and consulted me anxiously as to the exact
disposition of an artificially curled forelock. I cursed him inwardly,
for I wanted him to be gone and leave me alone with the other man, but
for that very reason and that I might conceal my impatience, I did his
bidding and treated him with elaborate care. But now and again my glance
would stray to the other man; and as I caught his fierce, suspicious
eye--like the eye of a hunted animal--I would look away quickly lest he
should read what was in my mind.

"At length I had finished my dandy client. I had brushed his hair to a
nicety and had even curled his forelock with heated tongs. With a sigh
of relief I took off the cloth and waited for him to rise. But he rose
not. Stroking his cheek critically he decided that he wanted shaving,
and, cursing him in my heart, I had to comply.

"I had acquired some reputation as a barber and, I think, deserved it. I
could put a perfect edge on a razor and I wielded the instrument with a
sensitive hand and habitual care. My client appreciated my skill and
complimented me patronizingly in very fair English, though with a slight
Russian accent, delaying me intolerably to express his approval. When I
had shaved him he asked for pink powder to be applied to his chin; and
when I had powdered him he directed me to shape his mustache with Pate
Hongrois, a process which he superintended with anxious care.

"At last the fellow was actually finished. He got up from the chair and
surveyed himself in th