He is a new guest in the house. Father met
him in the public drawing-room, and has taken a liking to him."
"He seems likeable. I was wondering where I'd heard the name. It's not a
common name."
No, it was not common. Florence had seen it in a novel or somewhere, but
had never before met anybody possessing it. She agreed that he seemed
likeable,--agreed, that is to say, as far as she thought of him at all,
for what was he, or any casual acquaintance, to a woman in her state of
mind?
Larcher regarded him with interest. The full, clear brow, from which the
hair was tightly brushed, denoted intellectual qualities, but the rest
of the face--straight-bridged nose, dimpled cheeks, and quizzical
mouth--meant urbanity. The warm healthy tinge of his complexion, evenly
spread from brow to chin, from ear-tip to ear-tip, was that of a social
rather than bookish or thoughtful person. He soon showed his civility by
adroitly contriving to include Florence and Larcher in his conversation
with Mr. Kenby. Talk ran along easily for half an hour upon the shop
windows during the Christmas season, the new calendars, the picture
exhibitions, the "art gift-books," and such topics, on all of which Mr.
Turl spoke with liveliness and taste. ("Fancy my supposing this man a
detective," mused Larcher.)
"I've been looking about in the art shops and the old book stores," said
Mr. Turl, "for a copy of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, as it was
called. You know, of course,--engravings from the Boydell collection of
Shakespearean paintings.
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