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was neither very ugly nor misshapen. Yet, standing beside Colonel Wybrowe that evening, the contrast was disastrous to the former. His sandy head reached to the ex-Guardsman's shoulder. His own shoulders were narrow; he wore a pince-nez, and had an upper lip of inordinate length, which he sought ineffectually to clothe with a sparse brushwood. It had the effect of a few hairs from his eyebrows which had got accidentally displaced. His features were not amiss; but he had a way of snapping at his words, and, when caught, holding them as it were in a vice between his thin lips, apparently afraid that they would escape again. His manner, though abrupt, and his voice were those of a perfect gentleman; but they were without charm. And yet he talked well; too well, some people thought. As a debater, he was said to possess great argumentative ability. Perhaps he was too ready to employ this gift to be very popular. Men were apt to call him "a prig;" women did not find him light in hand. He was not much more conceited, and was unquestionably cleverer, than most young men of his standing; and yet socially he was a failure. Why? No one could say exactly. He was kind, though dictatorial, and had many high and