Page:Gissing - The Unclassed, vol. I, 1884.djvu/52

 to look up at him. He was a massively built, grey-headed man of something more than sixty. Everything about him expressed strength and determination, power alike of body and mind. His features were large and heavy, but the forehead would have become a man of strong intellect; the eyes were full of astonishing vital force, and the chin was a physiognomical study, so strikingly did its moulding express energy of character. He was clean-shaven, and scarcely a seam or wrinkle anywhere broke the hard, smooth surface of his visage; his complexion was clear and rosy as that of a child. His hands were of enormous size, yet well-formed, and the finger-nails scrupulously kept. In fact, his whole person showed a certain fastidiousness and delicacy. He was dressed in decent black; a black silk bow at his throat; only a small space of very white shirt-front showing; on his waistcoat a heavy gold watch-guard. On the whole, a man to be afraid of; in all probability a man whom no one had ever yet loved, and who was very capable of dispensing with affection.