Then Mr Melmotte explained that Lord Alfred possessed peculiar aptitudes for the position.

'I'm sure I could do anything that he does,' said Mr Longestaffe.

Upon this Mr Melmotte, knitting his brows and speaking with some roughness, replied that the number of directors required was completed.

Since he had had two duchesses at his house Mr Melmotte was beginning to feel that he was entitled to bully any mere commoner, especially a commoner who could ask him for a seat at his board.
Mr Longestaffe was a tall, heavy man, about fifty, with hair and whiskers carefully dyed, whose clothes were made with great care, though they always seemed to fit him too tightly, and who thought very much of his personal appearance.

It was not that he considered himself handsome, but that he was specially proud of his aristocratic bearing.
He entertained an idea that all who understood the matter would perceive at a single glance that he was a gentleman of the first water, and a man of fashion.