As he was returning through Whitechapel, he passed a man on the pavement,
whose appearance was so remarkable that he could not help looking back
after him. When he reflected about it, he thought that it must have been a
certain indescribable resemblance to David Elginbrod that had so attracted
him. The man was very tall. Six-foot. Hugh felt dwarfed beside him; for he
had to look right up, as he passed, to see his face. He was dressed in
loose, shabby black. He had high and otherwise very marked features, and a
dark complexion. A general carelessness of demeanour was strangely
combined with an expression of reposeful strength and quiet concentration
of will. At how much of this conclusion Hugh arrived after knowing more of
him, I cannot tell; but such was the description he gave of him as he saw
him first: and it was thoroughly correct. His countenance always seemed to
me (for I knew him well) to represent a nature ever bent in one direction,
but never in haste, because never in doubt.
To carry his extravagance and dissipation still further, Hugh now betook
himself to the pit of the Olympic Theatre; and no one could have laughed
more heartily, or cried more helplessly, that night, than he; for he gave
himself wholly up to the influences of the ruler of the hour, the
admirable Robson. But what was his surprise when, standing up at the close
of the first act, and looking around and above him, he saw, unmistakeably,
the same remarkable countenance looking down upon him from the front row
of the gallery. He continued his circuit of observation, trying to
discover the face of Funkelstein in the boxes or circles; but
involuntarily he turned his gaze back to the strange countenance, which
still seemed bent towards his. The curtain rose, and during the second act
he forgot all about everything else. At its close he glanced up to the
gallery again, and there was the face still, and still looking at him. At
the close of the third act it had vanished, and he saw nothing more of it
that evening. When the after-piece was over, for he sat it out, he walked
quietly home, much refreshed. He had needed some relaxation, after many
days of close and continuous labour.
But awfully solemn was the face of good Miss Talbot, as she opened the
door for him at midnight. Hugh took especial pains with his boots and the
door-mat, but it was of no use: the austerity of her countenance would not
relax in the least. So he took his candle and walked up-stairs to his
room, saying only as he went—being unable to think of anything else:
“Good night, Miss Talbot.”
But no response proceeded from the offended divinity of the place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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