e latter refused to realize
it; if the miser had his peculiarities, the newcomer did not see them.

He ate his meals in silence, with an abstemiousness that, unknown to
himself, recommended him as cordially as any consideration might to his
shriveled table companion; made friendly overtures, disguised in
perfunctory courtesies, of passing the bread or the butter when either
was beyond the nervous reach of the eccentric Raikes, and ventured an
impassive suggestion or two as to the probable conduct of the weather.

In appearance the newcomer was startling.

His complexion was a berry-brown; his expression, aside from his eyes,
was singularly composed.

These were uncommonly black and piercing, and peeped from receding
sockets through heavy eyebrows, which hung like an ambush over their
dart and gleam.

His nose was a decisive aquiline, beneath which his lips, at once firm
and sensitive, pressed together changelessly.

His figure was tall and spare and usually clad in black, a habit which
emphasized his already picturesque countenance.

There was an indescribable air about him which suggested event,
transpired or about to transpire, which introduced a sort of eerie
distinction to the commonplace surroundings in which he found himself,
and invited many a glance of curious speculation in his direction.

All this was not without its effect upon Raikes, and it was remarked,
with the astonishment the occasion justified, that the miser, in the
ensuing days, emerged from his customary austerity to the extent of
reciprocal amenities in the passage of bread and salt.

However, this was but the beginning.

Raikes discovered himself, at last, responding, with a degree of chill
urbanity, to the advances of the stranger, and ere the week had
concluded had assumed the initiative in conversation on more than one
occasion.

By this time one of the inevitable vacancies had occurred at another
table, and the widow, as usual, offered to translate this latest guest
to the unoccupied seat.

The latter, however, for some strange reason, indicated a desire to
remain in his present surroundings, and when this disposition was
understood by Raikes, the conquest of the miser was complete.

As if to indorse the perverse aspect of inflexible things, it seemed,
now that Raikes had ventured ever so little beyond his taciturn
defenses, he was encouraged to further boldness.

The stranger exerted a fascination which, in others, Raikes wou