ing smoothed down a few creases, he put it on:--then, before his
little vulgar fraction of a looking-glass, he stood twitching about the
collar, and sleeves, and front, so as to make them sit well; concluding
with a careful elongation of the wristbands of his shirt, so as to show
their whiteness gracefully beyond the cuff of his coat-sleeve--and he
succeeded in producing a sort of white boundary line between the blue of
his coat-sleeve and the red of his hand. At that useful member he could
not help looking with a sigh, as he had often done before--for it was
not a handsome hand. It was broad and red, and the fingers were thick
and stumpy, with very coarse deep wrinkles at every joint. His nails
also were flat and shapeless; and he used to be continually gnawing
them till he had succeeded in getting them down to the quick--and they
were a sight to set one's teeth on edge. Then he extracted from the
first-mentioned trunk a white pocket handkerchief--an exemplary one,
that had gone through four Sundays' show, (not _use_, be it understood,)
and yet was capable of exhibition again. A pair of sky-colored kid
gloves next made their appearance: which, however, showed such barefaced
marks of former service as rendered indispensable a ten minutes' rubbing
with bread-crumbs. His Sunday hat, carefully covered with silver-paper,
was next gently removed from its well-worn box--ah, how lightly and
delicately did he pass his smoothing hand round its glossy surface!
Lastly, he took down a thin black cane, with a gilt head, and full brown
tassel, from a peg behind the door--and his toilet was complete. Laying
down his cane for a moment, he passed his hands again through his hair,
arranging it so as to fall nicely on each side beneath his hat, which he
then placed upon his head, with an elegant inclination towards the left
side. He was really not bad-looking, in spite of his sandy-colored hair.
His forehead, to be sure, was contracted, and his eyes were of a very
light color, and a trifle too protuberant; but his mouth was rather
well-formed, and being seldom closed, exhibited very beautiful teeth;
and his nose was of that description which generally passes for a Roman
nose. His countenance wore generally a smile, and was expressive
of--self-satisfaction: and surely any expression is better than none at
all. As for there being the slightest trace of _intellect_ in it, I
should be misleading the reader if I were to say anything of the sort.