When we were five days out, a third person occupied a seat at one side
of the young woman. He was a man of perhaps sixty years of age, with
big shoulders and big body, and a great round head covered with a mass
of dull white hair which fell about his neck and forehead. The
newcomer was dressed in a suit of gray cloth, much worn and badly cut,
the coat collar, by reason of the misfit, being hunched up under his
hair. This gave him the appearance of a man without a shirt collar,
until a turn of his head revealed his clean starched linen and narrow
black cravat. He looked like a plain, well-to-do manufacturer or
contractor, one whose earlier years had been spent in the out of
doors; for the weather had left its mark on his neck, where one can
always look for signs of a man's manner of life. His was that of a man
who had worn low-collared flannel shirts most of his days. He had,
too, a look of determination, as if he had been accustomed to be
obeyed. He was evidently an invalid, for his cheeks were sunken and
pale, with the pallor that comes of long confinement.
Apart from these characteristics there was nothing specially
remarkable about him except the two cavernous eye sockets, sunk in his
head, the shaggy eyebrows arched above them, and the two eyes which
blazed and flashed with the inward fire of black opals. As these
rested first on one object and then on another, brightening or paling
as he moved his head, I could not but think of the action of some
alert searchlight gleaming out of a misty night.
As soon as he took his seat, the young woman, whose face for the first
time since she had been on board had lost its look of anxiety and
fatigue, leaned over him smilingly and began adjusting a napkin about
his throat and pinning it to his coat. He smiled in response as she
finished--a smile of singular sweetness--and held her hand until she
regained her seat. They seemed as happy as children or as two lovers,
laughing with each other, he now and then stopping to stroke her hand
at some word which I could not hear. When, a moment after, the von
Hoffbein took his accustomed seat, in full dress, too,--a red silk
lining to his waistcoat, and a red silk handkerchief tucked in above
it and worn liver-pad fashion,--the girl said simply, looking toward
the man in gray, "My father, sir;" whereupon the young fellow shot up
out of his chair, clicked his heels together, crooked his back, placed
two fingers on his right eyebrow, and sat down again. The man in gray
looked at him curiously and held out his hand, remarking that he was
pleased to meet him.
Todd was also watching the group, for I heard him say to the Doctor:
"These high-class Germans seldom forget themselves. The young baron
saluted the old duffer with the bib as though he were his superior
officer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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