Years of study had already sown in the delicate organization the seeds of many an infirmity and many a pain; but if your look had rested longer on that countenance, gradually your compassion might have given place to some feeling uneasy and sinister,--a feeling akin to fear.
There was in the whole expression so much of cold calm force, that it belied the debility of the frame.

You saw there the evidence of a mind that was cultivated, and you felt that in that cultivation there was something formidable.

A notable contrast to this countenance, prematurely worn and eminently intelligent, was the round healthy face of Oliver, with slow blue eyes fixed hard on the penetrating orbs of his brother, as if trying with might and main to catch from them a gleam of that knowledge with which they shone clear and frigid as a star.
At Frank's knock, Oliver's slow blue eyes sparkled into animation, and he sprang from his brother's side.

The little girl flung back the hair from her face, and stared at her mother with a look which spoke wonder and fright.
The young student knit his brows, and then turned wearily back to the books on his desk.
"Dear me," cried Mrs.Leslie, "who can that possibly be?
Oliver, come from the window, sir, this instant: you will be seen! Juliet, run, ring the bell; no, go to the head of the kitchen stairs, and call out to Jenny 'Not at home.' Not at home, on any account," repeated Mrs.Leslie, nervously, for the Montfydget blood was now in full flow.
In another minute or so, Frank's loud boyish voice was distinctly heard at the outer door.
Randal slightly started.
"Frank Hazeldean's voice," said he; "I should like to see him, Mother." "See him," repeated Mrs.Leslie, in amaze; "see him! and the room in this state!" Randal might have replied that the room was in no worse state than usual; but he said nothing.

A slight flush came and went over his pale face; and then he leaned his check on his hand, and compressed his lips firmly.
The outer door closed with a sullen, inhospitable jar, and a slip-shod female servant entered with a card between her finger and thumb.
"Who is that for ?--give it to me.