At this table
sat an officer, apparently about forty five years of age. There was n
othing very peculiar in his appearance; he Was a middle--sized man, well
made apparently. He sat on one chair, with his legs supported on another.
His white--topped boots had been taken off, and replaced by a pair of
slipshod slippers; his splashed white kerseymere pantaloons, seamed with
gold, resting on the unfrayed velvet cushion; his blue coat, covered with
rich embroidery at the bosom and collar, was open, and the lappels thrown
back, displaying a crimson--velvet facing, also richly embroidered, and an
embroidered scarlet waistcoat; a large solitary star glittered on his
breast, and the grand cross of the Legion of Honour sparkled at his
buttonhole; his black neckerchief had been taken off; and his cocked hat
lay beside him on a sofa, massively laced, the edges richly ornamented
with ostrich down; his head was covered with a red velvet cap, with a
thick gold cord twisted two or three turns round it, and ending in two
large tassels of heavy bullion; he wore very large epaulets, and his sword
had been inadvertently, as I conjectured, placed on the table, so that the
steel hilt rested on the ornamental part of the metal stove.
His face was good, his hair dark, forehead without a wrinkle, high and
massive, eyes bright and sparkling, nose neither fine nor dumpy--a fair
enough proboscis as noses go. There was an expression about the upper lip
and mouth that I did not like--a constant nervous sort of lifting of the
lip as it were; and as the mustache appeared to have been recently shaven
off, there was a white blueness on the upper lip, that contrasted
unpleasantly with the dark tinge which he had gallantly wrought for on the
glowing sands of Egypt, and the bronzing of his general features from
fierce suns and parching winds.
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