I see his indolent, athletic
figure; his pale, sharp, clean-shaven features; his curly black
hair; his strong, unscrupulous mouth. And again I feel the clear
beam of his wonderful eye, cold and luminous as a star, shining
into my brain--sifting the very secrets of my heart.
"I wonder if you mean all that!" he said at length. "You do in
your present mood; but who can back his mood to last? Still,
there's hope when a chap takes that tone. Now I think of it,
too, you were a plucky little devil at school; you once did me
rather a good turn, I recollect. Remember it, Bunny? Well, wait
a bit, and perhaps I'll be able to do you a better one. Give me
time to think."
He got up, lit a fresh cigarette, and fell to pacing the room
once more, but with a slower and more thoughtful step, and for a
much longer period than before. Twice he stopped at my chair as
though on the point of speaking, but each time he checked himself
and resumed his stride in silence. Once he threw up the window,
which he had shut some time since, and stood for some moments
leaning out into the fog which filled the Albany courtyard.
Meanwhile a clock on the chimney-piece struck one, and one again
for the half-hour, without a word between us.
Yet I not only kept my chair with patience, but I acquired an
incongruous equanimity in that half-hour.
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