| The light and warmth and the Count's courteous... 31 |
[Jan. 29th, 2010|07:19 am] |
The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fearsHaving then reached my normal state, I discovered that I was half famished with hungerSo making a hasty toilet, I went into the other room
I found supper already laid outMy host, who stood on one side of the great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of his hand to the table, and said,
"I pray you, be seated and sup how you pleaseYou will I trust, excuse me that I do not join you, but I have dined already, and I do not sup
I handed to him the sealed letter which MrHawkins had entrusted to meHe opened it and read it gravelyThen, with a charming smile, he handed it to me to readOne passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of pleasure
"I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to comeBut I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidenceHe is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful dispositionHe is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my serviceHe shall be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all matters
The count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I fell to at once on an excellent roast chickenThis, with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old tokay, of which I had two glasses, was my supperDuring the time I was eating it the Count asked me many questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had experienced
By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he did not smokeI had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked physiognomy
His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhereHis eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusionThe mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teethThese protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his yearsFor the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointedThe chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thinThe general effect was one of extraordinary pallor
Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fineBut seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse, broad, with squat fingersStrange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palmThe nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp pointAs the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudderIt may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal
The Count, evidently noticing it, drew backAnd with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protruberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplaceWe were both silent for a while, and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawnThere seemed a strange stillness over everythingBut as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolvesThe Count's eyes gleamed, and he |
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