Page:Contending Forces by Pauline Hopkins.djvu/397



years rolled slowly away and were numbered with the past. Will Smith had finished his course at Heidelberg, and for nine months had traveled in foreign capitals. He was much changed. Honors were thick upon him; honores mutant mores. His bearing was that of a man accustomed to the respectful attention of his equals, sure of himself, his position, his attainments—a wealthy cosmopolitan. He had been a handsome young fellow; he added now to mere good looks, grace, ease, elegance, and an imposing, well-developed intellectuality which marked him as a thinker and an originator. His eyes alone were un-